Prof Qingyao Shu (Zhejiang University) teaching IAEA fellows from Myanmar about rice mutation breeding in Hainan, China (Photo courtesy of Prof Qingyao Shu) — for more information, see ‘High-lights’ on page 19.

To Our Readers As a year has half passed by now, we might look back and consider the frailty of hu-man nature. Besides natural and human made hazards and disasters, the continuous pressure of food insecurity is heightened by the more and more evident effects of climate variability and change. Amongst others, a change in climate would have an effect on the world's vegetation zones. An increase in temperature would affect spe-cies composition and thus affect ecosystems. Up to two thirds of the world's forests would undergo major changes, deserts would become hotter, and desertification would extend and become harder to reverse. A change in the boundaries between grassland, forest and shrublands would occur. This change in vegetation zones could cause famine in arid areas such as Africa that depend on a certain type of crop. This could cause an increased population pressure on urban and peri-urban zones due to the exodus from afflicted arid rural regions. The range of pests could also change if the vegetation changed. This could bring about an increase in disease levels. Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Tem-peratures are rising, glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earli-er, plant and animal ranges have shifted, trees are flowering sooner, landscapes are changing also due to massive land erosion, there is an increased risk of drought, fire and floods, stronger storms cause increased storm damage and more heat-related spreads of diseases and pests put (agro-)biodiversity at risk and cause economic loss-

No. 27 July 2011

http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/index.html ISSN 1564-2569 http://www.fao.org/ag/portal/index_en.html

Contents � To Our Readers 1

� Staff 3

� Forthcoming Events 4

� Past Events 5

� Coordinated Research Projects 10

� Technical Cooperation Field Projects 13

� Technical Cooperation Project Highlights 17

� News from Ug99 18

� Highlights 19

� Developments at the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory, Seibersdorf 20

� Publications 26

Plant Breeding & Genetics Newsletter, No. 27, July 2011

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es. Consequently, the concern about sustainable food se-curity is a red thread leading through this issue of our Newsletter. In this issue, you will find some of our mod-est contributions to consolidate food security under the pressure of climate change: You might be interested in a new Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on ‘Climate Proofing of Food Crops: Ge-netic Improvement for Adaptation to High Temperatures in Drought Prone Areas’. Please turn your attention to the report of the first Research Coordination Meeting (RCM) under Past Events. In the same section the report of a Consultants Meeting on ‘Enhancing Productivity of Lo-cally-underused Crops through Mutation Breeding and Optimized Soil, Nutrient and Water Management Prac-tices under Climate Change and Variability’, preparing a regional Technical Cooperation (TC) Project for Asia and the Pacific might draw your attention. If you turn to Sub-programme Highlights, you will find a short review on the first IAEA Collaborating Center at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. How breeding enhanced and supported by nuclear techniques can posi-tively impact on livelihoods is illustrated therein. Turning to News from Ug99, you get a continuous up-date on the positive developments in the IAEA TC Pro-ject INT/5/150 contributing to the global fight against a transboundary disease threatening wheat and barley worldwide: wheat black stem rust race Ug99. How to breed hardy crops in harsh environments using technology packages complementing mutation induction and efficiency enhancing biotechnologies with best fit soil, water and nutrient management practices is touched upon in the different sections about Technical Coopera-tion and Coordinated Research Projects, as well as in the section from our Seibersdorf Laboratory.

Modern agriculture surely is part of the solution. Over the last 150 years, farmers achieved a 1.5% reduction in pro-duction costs per year (averaged and similar across cere-als, fruit, milk, meat amongst others) with increased qual-ity and security. This represents a remarkable total of 10-fold reduction in cost. Over the last 4500 years, farmers achieved a 0.1% per year cumulative reduction in long term ‘effort’: 4500 years ago, getting food was a full-time job for everyone (365*12=4380 hr/year/person), whereas at present, in Europe and North America, 2% of the population are farmers (0.02*8*300=48 hr/year/person spent farming). As an example, in 1949, statistically, one German farmer could feed 10 people. In 2002, one Ger-man farmer fed 131 people. Mother Nature has proven to be a harsh headmaster, con-stantly reminding us, as she did again recently, not to be-come relaxed. The ascent of humankind is built on ‘toil, tears and sweat’, maintaining our rank depends on more of the same. Knowing that basically the threats to sus-tainability have not changed for more than 10 000 years — habitat destruction (including human-made and/or natural disasters), climate variability and change (abiotic stresses), diseases (biotic stresses), changes in what peo-ple want, blindness to what is happening, unwillingness to change — coping with hazards, human-made or natu-ral, is a constant endeavour since the invention of agricul-ture and animal husbandry. Or as late Dr Norman E. Borlaug (1914–2009) put it: ‘We may be at high tide now, but ebb tide could soon set in if we become complacent and relax our efforts’.

Pierre J.L. Lagoda

Head, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section

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Staff

Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Wagramer Strasse 5, P.O. Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria (Phone: +431 2600 + extension; Fax: +431 2600 7; Email: Official.Mail@iaea.org)

Name Title Email Extension

Qu Liang Director q.liang@iaea.org 21610

Plant Breeding and Genetics Section

Name Title Email Extension

Pierre J.L. Lagoda Head of Section p.lagoda@iaea.org 21626

Vacant Plant Breeder/Geneticist

Marie Madeleine Spencer Plant Biotechnologist m.m.spencer@iaea.org 21623

Yvonne Rosaline Lokko Plant Breeder/Geneticist y.lokko@iaea.org 21619

Sridhar Dharmapuri Consultant s.dharmapuri@iaea.org 26843

Akbar Ali Cheema1 Consultant a.cheema@iaea.org 21617

Silvana Manasievska-Simić2 Consultant s.manasievska-simic@iaea.org 21617

Katayoun Allaf Senior Office Clerk k.allaf@iaea.org 21621

Mario Dani Secretary m.dani@iaea.org 21620

FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory, 2444 Seibersdorf, Austria (Phone: +431 2600 + extension)

Name Title Email Extension

Qu Liang Acting Head, Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory

q.liang@iaea.org 21610/28274

Vacant Head, Plant Breeding Unit

Vacant Mutation Breeder

Bradley J. Till Plant Molecular Biologist/Acting Lab Head b.till@iaea.org 28260

Mirta Matijevic Technician m.matijevic@iaea.org 28317

Joanna Beata Jankowicz-Cieslak

Technician j.jankowicz@iaea.org 28275

Guenter Berthold Technician g.berthold@iaea.org 28418

Andreas Draganitsch Technician a.draganitsch@iaea.org 28418

Souleymane Bado Technician s.bado@iaea.org 28208

Owen Anthony Huynh Technician o.huynh@iaea.org 28279

Anne Lorenz Secretary a.lorenz@iaea.org 28274

Lamia Dool Team Assistant l.dool@iaea.org 28362

1 Separated from the IAEA in May 2011 2 Joined the IAEA in May 2011

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Forthcoming Events Regional Meeting on Mutation Induction and Supportive Breeding and Biotechnol-ogies for Improving Crop Productivity (ARASIA), RAS/5/048, Muscat, Oman, 3–5 July 2011 Technical Officer : P.J.L. Lagoda The Regional Meeting is being organized within the framework of the regional technical cooperation (TC) project RAS/5/048 on ‘Mutation Induction and Support-ive Breeding and Biotechnologies for Improving Crop Productivity’. The purpose of this meeting is to exchange experience and data on mutation induction technology packages integrating mutation induction and efficiency-enhancing molecular and biotechnologies. Updated knowledge and know-how will be laid out for discussion. Further, socioeconomic impact of the above in the ARASIA Member States (MSs) will be discussed. The use of induced mutation for creating useful new germplasm and developing now cultivars is a profitable approach to crop improvement. If desired traits are to be enhanced and mutant varieties with high yield, short du-ration, shatter-resistance, and stress tolerance are to be developed, it is important that various valuable mutant germplasm should be generated, identified, and made best use of. ARASIA State Parties have recognized the prime importance of developing improved varieties of food crops through the application of mutation tech-niques. Wheat and barley amongst other crops are the most important contributors to food security and suffi-ciency in ARASIA Member States participating in this project. It is paramount to assess policies concerning the sustainability of breeding programmes vis-à-vis of the integration of enhancing technology packages based on mutation induction. Expected output(s) include a regional overview on the utilization of mutation induction technology in plant breeding and genetics and a regional assessment of the socioeconomic impact of mutant varieties. The meeting will assist the participating Member States in taking rea-soned policy decisions on the application of technology packages integrating mutation induction and efficiency enhancing molecular and biotechnologies for breeding programme support. The meeting will include round table discussions on: � Mutation induction technology packages; � On-going programmes and projects in the region; � Socioeconomic impact of mutant varieties and culti-

vars; � Bio-safety of mutation induction and public aware-

ness. The meeting is open for 30 participants from ARASIA Member States and invited guests from the Arab Centre for the Study of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusam-menarbeit GmbH (GTZ), the Food and Agriculture Or-

ganization (FAO) regional and national representatives, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). Nominated candidates should be (i) representatives from Ministries of Agriculture, (ii) representatives from non-governmental organizations, academia, or the private sec-tor and/or (iii) national project counterparts.

Second Technical Meeting on Responding to the Transboundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust Ug99, INT/5/150, Eldo-ret, Kenya, 22–26 August 2011 Technical Officer : P.J.L. Lagoda A second technical meeting will be convened to unite all stakeholders of INT/5/150, ‘Responding to the Trans-boundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust (Ug99)’, fol-lowing the achievement of an important milestone. Major and minor resistance genes to Ug99 have been identified in wheat and barley, in the M2 generation. On the occa-sion of the second screening campaign in 2011, all stake-holders are invited to this Kenyan region where the three most virulent derivatives of wheat black stem rust race Ug99 are endemic, in order to: 1. Evaluate progress from the first technical meeting. 2. Evaluate lessons learned from the mutant germplasm

exchange pipeline. 3. Further harmonize cooperation between the IAEA

and all its partners (ICARDA, CIMMYT; Agricultur-al Research Services of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); BGRI (Cornell University, USA); Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS); BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India); International Treaty on Plant Genet-ic Resources (FAO), Western Australia Department of Agriculture & Food of the Government of Western Australia).

It is expected, that representatives of Algeria, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Su-dan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, and Uganda with contributions from the partnering International Or-ganizations — mainly FAO, IAEA, ICARDA, and CIMMYT — will discuss their workplans and map the way ahead for INT/5/150. Field visits to screen the germplasm and discussions re-lated to the timetable for the project activities agreed up-on during the third project steering and coordination meeting held in Ankara are scheduled, including: 1. Continuation of the iterative mutation induction pro-

cess (M0 to M2) per participating Member State as agreed in the country workplan.

2. Dispatch of M2 seed to areas in Kenya where the disease is endemic.

3. Confirmation of the resistance to Ug99 in:

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a) Moi, KENYA b) Tihama, YEMEN c) ETHIOPIA, (Site to be determined)

4. Advancing mutated lines until they are homozygous for resistance to Ug99.

5. Distribution of the confirmed advanced mutant lines (first homozygous mutant generation) to breeding programmes in the originating countries and partici-pating/requesting Member States.

6. Screening of M3 and other advanced material from participating Member States.

7. Exploration of the possibilities to create mutant ge-netic stocks settings for the conservation of the puta-tive advanced mutant lines developed under this pro-ject:

a) Hexaploid wheat (bread) b) Tetraploid wheat (durum) c) Barley d) Wide crosses (wheat and rye)

8. Opening the project to interested third parties for distribution of mutant germplasm.

9. Future mutation activities to target rust diseases in general, including yellow rust (stripe rust), brown rust (leaf rust), and Septoria.

10. Allelism determination. 11. Marker development and mapping. 12. Gene identification and gene function analyses.

Past Events Third Coordination Meeting on Respond-ing to the Transboundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust (Ug99), INT/5/150, Ankara, Turkey, 6–10 Decem-ber 2010 Technical Officer : P.J.L. Lagoda

The interregional TC project INT/5/150 entitled ‘Re-sponding to the Transboundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust (Ug99)’, aims to use mutation induction and supportive efficiency enhancing molecular and bio-technologies in plant breeding. The third coordination and steering meeting was attended by 22 participants from 14 countries (Algeria, China, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Ken-ya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tu-nisia, Turkey and Uganda) and three international organi-zations (IAEA, ICARDA, and CIMMYT). Australia and FAO representatives were not able to join the meeting. Ethiopia, Morocco, and Oman were encouraged to nomi-nate representatives. The meeting objectives and project action plan were re-viewed, discussed and approved by the assembly of par-ticipants. The main objective of the meeting was to con-

duct a progress evaluation from the second coordination meeting to date: what activities were planned in Nairobi, which ones were accomplished, to identify bottlenecks and to plan the way forward to 2011 activities, which were reviewed by all MSs and adjusted accordingly.

Project governance action plan May 2009: First steering and coordination meeting (IAEA, Vienna, Austria). November 2009: First technical meeting and second steering and coordination meeting (Moi, Nairobi, Kenya). December 2010: Third steering and coordination meet-ing (Ankara, Turkey). August 2011: Second technical meeting (Moi, Nairobi, Kenya). November 2011: Fourth steering and coordination meet-ing (IAEA, Vienna, Austria). August 2012: Third technical meeting (Moi, Nairobi, Kenya). November 2012: Fifth steering and coordination meeting (IAEA, Vienna, Austria). Programme activities projected in the second coordina-tion and steering meeting could only partially be accom-plished in Njoro, Kenya. Compensation activities at Moi, Egerton, were enhanced. Country reports highlighted past, current and planned activities. Country representatives also presented high-lights of current collaborative research activities with the IAEA and CG Centers. Participants outlined workplans for the next season and provided lists for support needed from the IAEA. The expected flow of the programme can be summarized in four stages: � Parental seeds (M0) will be tested for purity prior to

the induction of mutations leading to the M1 popula-tion.

� M1 seed will be grown in isolated plots and self ferti-lized to produce the M2 followed by the M3 genera-tion.

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� Screening of the M4 population derived from the M3 generation will lead to the selection of mutant lines resistant to Ug99 and its derivatives. A large number of induced populations (M2+) will be generated by member countries. Hence it is expected that at least 100 000 M2s per year will be tested by limiting the countries’ contribution to one to two induced popu-lations (M2). It has been decided that the participat-ing Member States will recommend the parents to be mutated. The IAEA, in consultation with ICARDA and CIMMYT, will approve the list in order to en-sure that the lines used by different country pro-grammes are not genetically related. It is usual that a well performing genotype from ICARDA and/or CIMMYT international nurseries can be selected in different countries and different names attributed to it by national breeding programmes. It is therefore recommended that mutation activities should target resistance to wheat rusts and avoid duplications be-tween countries. Induced populations from national programmes (M2+) will be tested at Moi University where land and irrigation facilities are available and operational. The material will be exposed to natural rust infection (Ug99 and derivatives), selected and confirmed resistant mutants (M3+) will be tested at Njoro where CIMMYT could provide assistance and national programmes will be able to visit and per-form selection as needed. This segment of the activi-ties has to be confirmed by the new resident repre-sentative of CIMMYT.

� Selected material will be sent back to the initial con-tributors and made available to any interested partic-ipating Member State for testing under local condi-tions for traits of interest as well as testing at rust hot spots that could be coordinated by ICWIP in CWA-NA. Secondary screening hot spots have been identi-fied in Yemen and Ethiopia. Availability of the Ethiopian screening site has to be confirmed by the local representative.

The process of screening has been accomplished as planned. More about the results of this first round of screening can be found in this issue under ‘News about Ug99’ on page 18. Support staff from participating countries was trained at Seibersdorf, Austria and Beijing, China, on mutation in-duction and efficiency enhancing biotechnologies for rust resistance wheat breeding. The scientific discussions during this meeting were fo-cused on the rust issue. The threat of Ug99 and its deriva-tives was stressed in three reports from South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, tentatively confirming the pres-ence and virulence of Sr31 (Ug99) at least in trap nurse-ries. This shows that the spread of the rust diseases knows no barriers and the virulent derivatives can adapt to different environments if climatic conditions are favor-able. It is still under scientific discussion if the altered spectrum of adaptability to different climatic conditions favors the spread of these more virulent races of Ug99.

This emphasizes the need and usefulness of this interna-tional project. The importance of linkages with national breeding pro-grammes was stressed by participants and hence country representatives will ensure direct communication with respective national breeding programmes.

Final Project Review Meeting IAEA/RAC Regional TC Project RAS/5/045, Bangkok, Thailand, 21–25 March 2011 Technical Officer : Y. Lokko

In collaboration with the Thailand Department of Agri-culture, the Field Crops Research Institute and the Thai-land Office of Atoms for Peace, the final project review meeting of RAS/5/045 was held at the Rama Gardens Hotel in Bangkok. The objectives of the meeting were to (i) assess the project status and progress achieved since the last meeting (ii) discuss modalities for continuing the-se efforts into the next TC cycle (iii) examine project sus-tainability in participating countries after its closure and (iii) review recommendations for participation in Asia and Oceania Association of Plant Mutagenesis (AOAPM). The meeting was attended by counterparts from Austral-ia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, My-anmar, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Vi-etnam. Dr Qinyao Shu (China) and Dr Duncan Vaughn (Chief Technical Adviser and Plant Biotechnologist, FAO-RAP, Bangkok) were present as international ex-perts. In the opening address, Dr Manthana Milne, Depu-ty Director General of the Thailand Department of Agri-culture (DOA) welcomed the participants and highlighted the work being done by the department in mutation breeding and biotechnology. Dr Duncan Vaughn re-marked on the relevance of the meeting in the face of the emerging food security situation in the region. Ms Yvonne Lokko thanked the host institutions and partici-pants and detailed the expected outputs of the meeting. This included an assessment of the progress made to-wards establishement of efficient methodologies for mu-tation induction, mutant screening and selection protocols for nutritional quality characters, identification of molec-

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ular markers linked to stress tolerance and their use in developing improved crop varieties. This was followed by a technical session with presentations from the invited international experts and the national counterpart from Chiang Mai University. The dissemination and use of the mutants for genetic research, varietal development and by industry was also discussed. Technical visits to the Insti-tute for Applied Radiation and Isotopes at Kasetsart Uni-versity, the DOA Genebank and the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology were organized. The visits afforded the participants the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of research activities being undertaken using nuclear techniques and biotechnology in Thailand.

Second Research Coordination Meeting (RCM) on Improving Nutritional Quality by Altering Concentrations of Enhancing Factors Using Induced Mutation and Bio-technology in Crops, D2.30.28, Pretoria, South Africa, 11–15 April 2011 Technical Officer : Y. Lokko

The second RCM of this Coordinated Research Project (CRP) was held in collaboration with the ARC-Vegetable and Ornamental Plant Institute (ARC-VOPI) in Pretoria. The main aims of the meeting were (i) to assess the pro-gress achieved since the last meeting (ii) review mid-term achievements (iii) and where necessary, adjust activities to deliver the specific outputs of the CRP. Ten research contract holders from Botswana, Bulgaria, China, Ghana, India (2), Kenya, Peru, South Africa and Ukraine, three research agreement holders from Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom respectively and three researchers from the host institution attended the meeting. The meeting was formally opened by Dr Adebola, Head of Plant Breeding, VOPI. Ms Yvonne Lokko gave a brief introduction on the expected outputs of the meeting: � Evaluation of the progress made towards generating

new mutant germplasm with improved nutrient qual-ity traits in a range of crops,

� New protocols and methods developed to screen for the desired nutrient quality traits,

� Characterization of new mutant lines and the result-ing scientific publications.

Project participants gave detailed presentations on the work done since the last RCM. The reports highlighted the methods used, results obtained in developing new mutant germplasm with improved nutrient quality traits in a range of crops, screening methodologies for the re-spective nutrient quality traits using biochemical or mo-lecular methods. Participants also visited the laboratories and experimental fields at ARC-VOPI for an overview of the research activities being undertaken by the host insti-tution.

First Research Coordination Meeting on Climate Proofing of Food Crops: Genetic Improvement for Adaptation to High Temperatures in Drought Prone Areas and Beyond, D2.30.29, Vienna, Austria, 2–6 May 2011 Technical Officer : M. Spencer

The meeting attained its main objective, which was to discuss and integrate the individual workplans of the CRP participants on the basis of the outputs as specified in the project document and the country presentations. The meeting was attended by 16 participants from Aus-tralia, China, Colombia, Cuba, India, Japan, Mexico, Pa-kistan, the Philippines, Senegal, Spain, the United Repub-lic of Tanzania, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) was also represented. The meeting was opened by Mr Pierre J.L. Lagoda, Section Head, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. He spoke on the challenges posed by climate change and the opportunity for breeding cli-mate proof crop varieties through mutation breeding and biotechnology. Already, several decades of successful mutation breeding supported by the IAEA has resulted in the development of 3200 mutant varieties worldwide

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from 170 species (18% legumes/pulses) as recorded in the Mutant Varieties and Genetic Stocks Database (http://mvgs.iaea.org). Ms Spencer presented the CRP and highlighted the objec-tives, expected outputs and the methodologies proposed to achieve them. Rice and bean are the two target crops. The participants presented structured projects aimed at developing advanced mutant lines with improved toler-ance to increased temperatures using mutation breeding along with the use of sophisticated high throughput mo-lecular techniques. Speakers also pointed out the exten-sive integration between mutation breeding and molecu-lar genetics including state of the art technologies, such as QTL and deep sequencing. Data using techniques for identifying positive mutations and shortening screening procedures in order to more accelerate development of advanced mutant lines was also presented and discussed. The participants recommended that specific additional objectives be added, namely (i) the establishment of ro-bust experimental protocols for physiological, genetic and molecular studies and screening mutants (ii) the screening of germplasm for heat tolerance and (iii) identi-fication of the genes along with associated molecular markers to facilitate tagging and marker assisted selec-tion. The participants agreed to establish, with IAEA support, a web-based platform for communication and efficient exchange of technical information.

Consultants Meeting on Enhancing Productivity of Locally-underused Crops through Mutation Breeding and Opti-mized Soil, Nutrient and Water Manage-ment Practices under Climate Change and Variability, RAS/0/058, Vienna, Austria, 9–13 May 2011 Technical Officers : P.J.L. Lagoda and M.-L. Nguyen

Six consultants from China, India, Indonesia and Malay-sia met at IAEA Headquarters with the Joint FAO/IAEA staff to further develop a regional TC concept note to en-hance productivity of underused crops currently cultivat-ed in specific and confined regions for better adaptation and further dissemination in the Asian and Pacific Region under the foreseen climate change and variability.

The project strategy is to combine mutation breeding and optimized soil, nutrient and water management practices into locally adapted technology packages for underused crops under local conditions and climate change and var-iability. Project actions will include (a) surveys of availa-ble resources (varieties and advanced lines) of pigeon pea, mungbean, soybean, sorghum and plantain in the participating countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia ,China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Ma-laysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, by the counterparts for the project implementation that will allow them to be shared by all the participants; (b) assessment of adaptation of these resources in the participating countries under local conditions; (c) improvement of traits through mutation induction; (d) optimization of soil, nutrient and water management practices and (e) promotion and adaptation of technology packages to the end-users, and enhance-ment of collaboration in the region and beyond. Over the past decades, the IAEA has been assisting the Asian Member States in using nuclear technologies to increase agricultural production. As a result, improved breeding lines of cereals, oilseed crops, and food legumes have been produced, and a high return on the investment has already been achieved in several countries. More re-cently, similar efforts have been made, under the regional programmes, to further assist in the evaluation of the per-formance of the improved crops as well as the initiation of new breeding programmes to improve drought toler-ance as well as the yield of some staple food crops which play a major role in the nutrition of most of the Asian populations. Impacts of climatic and anthropogenic factors (deforesta-tion, over population and overgrazing) such as drought, soil salinity, soil acidity and depletion of soil organic matter leading to reduced soil productivity continue to be a constraint and will become more serious under climate change and variability. Diminishing land and water re-source base, environmental degradation, erosion of bio-diversity, natural disasters, new and destructive pest and disease complexes, and changing market demands pose major challenges to Asian agriculture in the foreseeable future. Plant breeding in conjunction with optimized soil nutrient and water management practices is probably the most viable approach to stabilizing food production. Moreover, there are many traditional Asian food crops, which are adapted to the agro-climatic and biotic stresses in the region and used by local communities as a primary source of carbohydrate, protein, minerals and other mi-cronutrients. Some of these crops are locally grown to supplement basic dietary needs. Little or no attention has been paid to develop improved lines of these crops com-patible with modern farming. It is therefore essential that locally-underused crops be genetically improved in yield, quality, agronomic traits, disease resistance and stress tolerance through conventional breeding, in vitro and mu-tation techniques as well as be optimizing soil nutrient and water management practices.

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With more than 600 million people suffering from mal-nutrition and poverty in the Asia and Pacific region, there is a need to continue IAEA support to help Member States validate and officially release their promising crop varieties. Further improvement of traditional underused crops and promotion of the exchange of mutant germplasm and accompanied by optimal soil and water management practices among scientists in the region is needed. Policy makers and end-users will benefit from increased awareness of the effectiveness of nuclear tech-niques in overcoming production constraints of these crops. There is a continuing need for IAEA support in improv-ing the productivity of these crops in the region where high population growth rates and low productivity call for concerted efforts and continuing attention of both member countries and international development agen-cies to enhance sustainable food security through in-creased production of a variety of crops providing bal-anced nutrition. The proposed project does not intend to create or establish entirely new facilities for crop im-provement. However, it aspires to build on achievements attained through assistance from the IAEA and national efforts in participating Member States. The existing ca-pabilities in the participating countries will be upgraded and the exchange of mutant germplasm and accompanied technology packages between the scientists in the region will be promoted. This regional project intends to en-hance close collaboration among scientists in plant breed-ing, soil, nutrient and water management practices by strengthening the ties with national, regional and interna-tional institutions (such as ICRISAT, IBSRAM, Bioversi-ty International) involved in agricultural research in the Asia and Pacific Region. The main output (new varieties and technologies) will be extended to more end-users in the region and beyond. Upgraded laboratory facilities and infrastructures, and trained staff will contribute to further development for enhancing food security under climate change and varia-bility. Considering the importance of the project, in addi-tion to the IAEA, financial resources will also be provid-ed by national (including ministries, universities, research centres), international and non-governmental organiza-tions with an interest in sustainable practices in the re-gion.

Second Research Coordination Meeting on Isolation and Characterization of Genes Involved in Mutagenesis of Crop Plants, D2.40.13, Vienna, Austria, 30 May–3 June 2011 Technical Officer : P.J.L. Lagoda For this RCM, 12 agreement and research contract hold-ers from Argentina, Bulgaria, China, Germany, India, Republic of Korea, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and the

United States of America met with Plant Breeding and Genetics staff of the IAEA to coordinate efforts on the CRP entitled Isolation and Characterization of Genes In-volved in Mutagenesis of Crop Plants.

Progress was assessed and workplans plotted and harmo-nized for the continuation of the CRP. The suggestion, put forth at the first RCM in St. Louis, Missouri, that two model plants of the project (Pisum sativum, and Lathyrus sativus) could be substituted by Medicago truncatula was further discussed: this suggestion would allow focusing on obtaining fundamental scientific results on a model leguminous plant, under greenhouse controlled condi-tions, ensuring a much higher probability of success. Some highlighted results (for detailed information, see ‘Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs) and Research Coordination Meetings (RCMs)’ — page 10) in the fol-lowing are promising indicators for the successful con-tinuation of this research endeavour, inter alia: A strategy based on mismatch repair (MMR) suppression to widen the genetic diversity after mutagenesis was pro-posed. Suppression was achieved by reverse genetic se-lection of mutants or cultivars defective in MMR in to-mato. The mutant lines are expected to have a wider spectrum of genetic alterations, such as base substitutions leading to enhanced mutation frequencies. It was also reported that deficiency in MMR can lead to both base substitutions and deletion mutations in the population even without mutagenic treatment, thus increasing fre-quency of spontaneous mutations in the population. This may allow targeting of novel loci which may not be ame-nable to chemical or physical mutagenesis. Since these lines are hypermutable, the mutant lines can be crossed back to the wild relative to restore the wild copy gene and stabilize the selected mutant trait.

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Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs) and Research Coordination Meetings (RCMs)

Project Number Ongoing CRPs Scientific Secretary

D2.30.28 Improving Nutritional Quality by Altering Concentrations of Enhancing Factors Using Induced Mutation and Bio-technology in Crops

Y. Lokko

D2.30.29 Climate Proofing of Food Crops: Genetic Improvement for Adaptation to High Temperatures in Drought Prone Areas and Beyond

M. Spencer

D2.40.12 Enhancing the Efficiency of Induced Mutagenesis through an Integrated Biotechnology Pipeline

B. Till

D2.40.13 Isolation and Characterization of Genes Involved in Muta-genesis of Crop Plants

P.J.L. Lagoda

CRP Closed in 2010

D2.30.27 Molecular Tools for Quality Improvement in Vegetatively Propagated Crops Including Banana and Cassava

B. Till

Improving Nutritional Quality by Altering Concentrations of Enhancing Factors Using Induced Mutation and Biotechnology in Crops, D2.30.28 Technical Officer: Y. Lokko Increasing crop production and providing adequate nutrition are key issues in many countries in the world. In addition to providing basic nutrition for sustaining life, edible crops must also deliver essential vitamins and minerals required to prevent deficiency disorders. However, the major staple crops are often deficient in some of these micronutrients. Consequently, micronutrient deficiencies like those of vita-min A, iron (Fe) or zinc (Zn), affect greater than 40% of the world’s population. It is estimated that of the 6.8 billion people in the world, 60–80% suffer from Fe deficiency and over 30% from Zn deficiency. In many societies, certain social groups do not receive sufficient calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) in their diets. Bio-fortification, which is defined as the enrichment of nutritional properties of edible crops, can be achieved through the combination of agrono-my and plant breeding. An essential requirement for plant breeders to develop nutrient rich crops is the availability of suitable germplasm. Induced mutations provide a highly efficient tool to alter the genetic constitution of plants and create a wealth of genetic variability, including desirable changes in nutrient content and composition. Over the years, mutant varieties and lines in crops such as barley, rice and tomato with varying starch quality, fatty acid composition, concentration of essential minerals, vita-mins and beneficial compounds such as carotenoids and tocopherol have been developed. Moreover, advances in molecular biology, have allowed investigations of whole genomes by integrating genetics with informatics and auto-

mated systems. This has led to the identification of key genes in micronutrient biosynthetic pathways and provided new insights into breeding for enhanced nutrition related traits. This CRP aims to utilize mutant collections in select-ed model crops, integrate tools from genomics and provide resources to facilitate the development of breeding pro-grammes for improved nutritional quality in Member States. The resulting mutant germplasm and the protocols devel-oped used to breed them will constitute the main outputs of this proposed CRP. The first RCM was held at the IAEA Headquarters in Vien-na, Austria, 29 June–3 July 2009. The meeting focussed on (i) planning research activities of the CRP (ii) reviewing and reworking individual workplans in order to achieve the the specific outputs of the CRP. Eleven research contract holders from Botswana, Bulgaria, China, Ghana India (2), Kenya, Peru, South Africa and Ukraine, and four research agreement holders from Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America attended the meeting. It was agreed that the CRP will focus on improv-ing nutrient quality in elite varieties of six food security crops — groundnut, wheat, rice, soybean, barley and sweet potato. Some activities, such as testing of mutagenesis tech-niques, would be undertaken for Solanaceous food crops (such as potato, tomato and pepper), sugar beet and Brachy-podium. Since 2007 when the CRP proposal was initially submitted to the IAEA, substantial genomic and metabo-lomic information has been generated in many of the target crops. As such, the original intention to extrapolate infor-mation from model crops into the target crops is now being complemented with direct information from targetcrops. There was also a general consensus during the first RCM to slightly modify the CRP title to accurately reflect the pro-ject objective. The title agreed upon was Improving Quality

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of High Yielding Crops for a Changing Climate, by Altering Concentrations of Nutritional Factors Using Induced Muta-tion and Biotechnology. Over the last two years, significant progress in research and capacity development has been reported from most of the CRP participants. These include: � The development of new mutant germplasm in all the

target crops and the generation of new mutant popula-tions in some of the model crops.

� The establishment of efficient methods to screen mu-tant populations and stable mutant lines for phenotypes such as resistant starch, enhanced carotenoid content, decreased oxalate and increased tocopherol levels. A range of biochemical assays have also been developed or adapted.

� The use of genetic and molecular methods to identify genes responsible for the phenotypes observed when screening mutant lines.

� The publication of 25 peer reviewed publications and nine conference proceedings to date.

� Dissemination of the techniques and results through supporting national, regional and international training programmes.

Climate Proofing of Food Crops: Genetic Improvement for Adaptation to High Tem-peratures in Drought Prone Areas and Be-yond, D2.30.29 Technical Officer: M. Spencer Climate change is now largely accepted as a real and press-ing global problem. It has recently been estimated that de-veloping countries will bear 70–80% of the costs of climate change damage with agriculture being the most impacted sector. The main impacts of climate change on agriculture will most probably be experienced through higher tempera-tures (increase in minima and maxima), altered changes in rainfall patterns (in amount, spatial and temporal distribu-tions), increased rates of evaporation, increased intensity and frequency of extreme events (floods and droughts), and raise of sea level affecting coastal areas where large quota of cultivated land are located (intrusion of salty water). The responses that agriculture systems worldwide can be put in place to cope with the expected impact of climate change and to reduce the food insecurity range from institutional and policy levels to the best management practices and technology advancement. An important opportunity in terms of technology advancement is offered by the genetic improvement of crops that can adapt to the future climate conditions; i.e., ‘climate proofing’ crops. Additionally, data collected from the selected crops: rice and common bean during the course of the CRP may be useful for a study of mathematical models for responses to high temperature in association with AquaCrop — FAO. This CRP will focus on improving the grain yields of rice (cereals) and the common bean (legumes), two essential staples in the diets of millions of impoverished and vulnera-ble populations, to high temperature stress in the face of climate change. The approach is to use (1) the whole plant

(2) gene expression markers and (3) physiologi-cal/biochemical responses to high temperature to identify valuable germplasm. � Exploit genetic diversity (existing mutated populations,

M2 and up) to assess tolerance to high temperature in terms of yield and yield components.

� Analyse and exploit mutations in functional genomics using molecular tools such as positional cloning of crit-ical genes, whole genome sequencing projects, SNP diversity analysis, global genomes expression analysis, and associated bioinformatics tools to evaluate large datasets and visualize metabolic pathways affected by stresses and/or genotypes.

Apply existing tools to characterize physiological and bio-chemical responses to high temperature on nodula-tion/nitrogen fixation and/or water use efficiency by appli-cation of stable isotope techniques. This CRP was initiated in 2010. The first RCM was held in Vienna, Austria, 2–6 May 2011. Eleven research contract holders (Colombia, China, Cuba, India, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe) and five agreement holders (China, Interna-tional Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom) attended the RCM. (Detailed information on the first RCM can be found under ‘Past Events’ — page 5.

Enhancing the Efficiency of Induced Muta-genesis through an Integrated Biotechnolo-gy Pipeline, D2.40.12 Technical Officer: B. Till New technologies and strategies for exploiting induced mu-tations for functional genomics and crop development promise to greatly enhance efficiencies and reduce the time to gain new knowledge and develop novel varieties. This CRP takes a modular approach to investigate and improve the different steps involved in a typical mutation breeding pipeline. Modules include phenotyping, the development of suitably mutagenized and sized populations for both for-ward and reverse-genetics, dissolution of chimeric sectors, the development of TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) reverse-genetics platforms for vegeta-tively propagated species, and investigations into novel technologies for mutation discovery and characterization. The four target crops chosen for this CRP are banana, bar-ley, cassava and rice. The goal is to develop modules that can be combined for the rapid creation and selection of de-sired mutants. For example, mutagenesis of barley micro-spores could provide a means to generate instantly homozy-gous mutant populations, and mutagenesis of banana and cassava cell suspensions could obviate the need for time consuming tissue culture techniques to dissolve chimeric sectors. Advanced mutation discovery technologies can provide information on mutation densities and spectrums to allow a precise estimation about the population size and mutagenesis dose needed for a high probability of recover-ing useful alleles, and so on. The major outputs will be pro-tocols and guidelines aimed at supporting Member States in

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the efficient use of induced mutations for plant improve-ment. The CRP was initiated in 2008. The first RCM was held in Vienna, Austria, 25–29 May 2009 and the second RCM was also held in Vienna 13–17 December 2010.

Isolation and Characterization of Genes In-volved in Mutagenesis of Crop Plants, D2.40.13 Technical Officer: P.J.L. Lagoda This CRP started with a consultants meeting in 2008 in Vi-enna, Austria, gathering five experts, Drs K. Riha (Austria), H. Puchta (Germany), A. Levy (Israel), B. Hohn (Switzer-land), and A. Britt (USA), who were invited to present their work in the concurrent session number two of the Interna-tional Symposium on Induced Mutations in Plants (ISIMP). They worked out the proposal for this CRP on Plant DNA Damage, Repair and Mutagenesis. The first RCM was held in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in con-junction with the ninth International Plant Molecular Biolo-gy Congress (IPMB), 26–31 October 2009. Eight research contract holders (Argentina, Bulgaria, China, India, Repub-lic of Korea and Poland) and four agreement holders and consultants (Germany, Switzerland and the United States of America (2)), participated in this RCM. The second RCM was held in Vienna, Austria, 30 May–3 June 2011. The CRP is progressing well as exemplified by some highlighted intermediate results below: � Similar induction kinetics of DNA double-strand

breaks were observed after treatment with Li-ions and gamma rays in the model plants under investigation.

� 50 rice mutant lines were identified and catalogued (according to knowledge in Arabidopsis and other plant species), potentially harbouring genes involved in DNA damage response and repair. These lines will be the basis for further gene discovery and gene function analyses.

� Interesting genetic observations about genetically un-stable mutants (GUMs) inducing narrow spectra of cy-toplasmically inherited mutants from the barley chlo-roplast mutator genotype suggest that the gene respon-

sible for the syndrome is DNA repair-related. It would be involved in maintaining genetic stability of the plas-tome. The normal vigour observed in some homozy-gous mutator plants indicates that failure of the repair mechanism involved in the mutator activity has no se-vere effects in plant/cell viability, which opens up new perspectives for enhancing the efficiency of the process of mutation induction.

� In barley seedlings, photorepair is the main mechanism efficiently removing Cyclobutane Pymidine Dimers (CPD) from both total genomic DNA and ribosomal genes. Acute exposure to short-wave UV irradiation induces oxidative DNA damage in barley seedlings. Under dark recovery conditions, no repair of oxidative DNA damage occurs in the differentiated leaf cells up 24 hours after irradiation. Thus, in UV-C irradiated barley leaves incubated under dark there seems to be no alternative repair mechanism for CPD removal able to compensate for the lack of photoreactivation. This might be a workable way to increase the efficiency of mutation induction in barley. The ability of young bar-ley leaves to remove efficiently CPD depends primari-ly on the intensity and the spectrum of photoreactivat-ing light. The light-dependent repair mechanism oper-ating in the barley genome is able to remove complete-ly high levels of UV-C induced CPD but within the first hours after irradiation, light-grown seedlings have higher CPD photorepair activity in comparison to the dark-grown ones. At the meeting, it was reported, that the barley genome contains homologous DNA se-quences to the class II photolyase, responsible for the repair of CPD in model plants. In barley chloroplasts, an efficient light-dependent repair mechanism removes UV-induced photoproducts from the rpoC2 and psaB-A genes, whereas excision repair pathways are not ac-tive in barley plastid genome throughout the dark re-covery period under study

IAEA Coordinated Research Activities Web Site:

http://www-crp.iaea.org/html/forms.html

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Technical Cooperation Field Projects The Plant Breeding and Genetics subprogramme currently has technical responsibilities for the following technical cooperation projects that are managed by the IAEA’s Department of Technical Cooperation.

Project Number Country Title and Objective(s) Technical Officer

AFG/5/003 Afghanistan Sustainable Increase in Crop Production in Afghanistan

Y. Lokko in collaboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section

AFG/5/004 Afghanistan Enhancing Crop Productivity through Muta-tion Breeding and Pest Control

Y. Lokko in collaboration with Insect Pest Control Section

ALG/5/023 Algeria Protection of Date Palm Trees Against Bayoud Disease

M. Spencer

ALG/5/024 Algeria Improvement of Cereals for Tolerance to Drought and Resistance to Disease

M. Spencer

ANG/5/006 Angola Improvement of Food Crops Through Muta-tion Breeding and Biotechnology

M. Spencer

BKF/5/007 Burkina Faso Improving Voandzou and Sesame Based Cropping Systems through the Use of Integrat-ed Isotopic and Nuclear Techniques

M. Spencer

BOL/5/018 Bolivia Enhancing Food Security Using Conventional and Nuclear Techniques for the Acquisition of Climate-Change Tolerant Commercial Potato Seed

M. Spencer/S. Dharmapuri

CAF/5/003 Central African Republic

Development of New Varieties of Cassava Through Mutation Breeding and Biotechnolo-gy Techniques

M. Spencer

COL/5/023 Colombia Enhancing Mutagenesis and Biotechnology Used in the Improvement of Rice

Y. Lokko/S. Dharmapuri

COS/5/027 Costa Rica Generation of Promising Strains of Beans through Induced Mutations in Calluses and Seeds to Increase Competitiveness

M. Spencer

COS/5/028 Costa Rica Generating Promising Strains of Beans through Induced Mutations in Calluses and Seeds to Increase Competitiveness (Phase II)

M. Spencer

CPR/5/017 China Construction of Radiation-Induced Mutant Li-braries and Function Analysis of Mutated Genes in Crop Plants

M. Spencer/Y. Lokko

ECU/5/023 Ecuador Inducing Mutations in Agriculture with the Aid of Radiation

M. Spencer

ECU/5/025 Awaiting Financing

Ecuador Inducing Genetic Variability in Soya, Banana and Rice

M. Spencer

ERI/5/004 Eritrea Improving Crop Productivity and Combating Desertification

Y. Lokko/P.J.L. Lagoda in col-laboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutri-tion Section

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Project Number Country Title and Objective(s) Technical Officer

INS/5/035 Indonesia Application of Nuclear Techniques for Screen-ing and Improving Cash Crop Plants in Coastal Saline Lands

S. Dharmapuri/M. Spencer

INS/5/036 Awaiting Financing

Indonesia Genetic Improvement of Artemisia Cina Using Irradiation Technique

M. Spencer

INS/5/037 Indonesia Applying Nuclear Techniques for Screening and Improving Cash Crop Plants in Coastal Saline Lands

S. Dharmapuri/M. Spencer in collaboration with Soil and Wa-ter Management and Crop Nu-trition Section

INS/5/038 Indonesia Using Induced Mutations to Improve Rice Productivity through a Hybrid Rice Breeding Programme

S. Dharmapuri/M. Spencer

INT/5/150 Interregional Responding to the Transboundary Threat of Wheat Black Stem Rust (Ug99)

P.J.L. Lagoda/S. Dharmapuri

IRQ/5/017 Iraq Optimization of Land Productivity Through the Application of Nuclear Techniques and Combined Technologies

S. Dharmapuri/P.J.L. Lagoda in collaboration with Soil and Wa-ter Management and Crop Nu-trition Section

IVC/5/031 Cote d’Ivoire Improving Plantain and Cassava Yields thought the Use of Legume Cover Crops

M. Spencer

JAM/5/010 Jamaica Plant Breeding and Diagnostics Technologies Y. Lokko

KAZ/5/002 Kazakhstan Improving Wheat and Maize Using Nuclear and Molecular Techniques

Y. Lokko/P.J.L. Lagoda

KEN/5/029 Kenya Developing Appropriate Artemisia Varieties for Management of Malaria

Y. Lokko/M. Spencer

MAG/5/018 Madagascar Improving Cereal Production (Rice and Maize) through Mutation Breeding for Toler-ance/Resistance to Striga (Striga asiatica)

M. Spencer

MAK/5/006 Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of

Improving Wheat, Barley and Triticale for Food and Feed in Drought-Prone Areas, Using Nuclear Techniques

Y. Lokko

MAL/5/028 Awaiting Financing

Malaysia Enhancing the Production of Bioactive Com-pounds in a Local Herbal Plant by a Soilless Planting System and In Vitro Mutagenesis

Y. Lokko/M. Spencer

MAR/5/018 Mauritius Improvement of Banana and Tomato Varieties Through the Use of Nuclear Techniques for Mutation Induction and Biotechnology

M. Spencer/Y. Lokko

MYA/5/016 Myanmar Development of Rice Varieties with Improved Iron Content/Bioavailability Through Nuclear Techniques

S. Dharmapuri/Y. Lokko

MYA/5/017 Myanmar Studying Yield Improvement of Local Rice Varieties though Induced Mutation

S. Dharmapuri/Y. Lokko

MYA/5/019 Awaiting Financing

Myanmar Developing Thermo-Insensitive (Cold-Tolerant) Green Gram Genotypes, Using Mu-tation Techniques

Y. Lokko

NAM/5/009 Namibia Using Mutation Breeding and Integrated Soil Plant Management Techniques to Develop Sustainable, High Yielding and Drought Re-sistant Crops

Y. Lokko in collaboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section

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Project Number Country Title and Objective(s) Technical Officer

NER/5/014 Niger Improving the Productivity of Cowpea/Finger Millet Based Cropping Systems

M. Spencer in collaboration with Soil and Water Manage-ment and Crop Nutrition Sec-tion

PAK/5/044 Pakistan Improvement of Drought Tolerance in Chick-pea Through Induced Mutations

M. Spencer

PER/5/030 Peru Genetic Improvement of Quinoa and Kiwicha Using Mutation Induction and Biotechnology

Y. Lokko

QAT/5/002 Qatar Developing Biosaline Agriculture in Salt-Affected Areas in Qatar

S. Dharmapuri/P.J.L. Lagoda in collaboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section

RAF/5/056 Regional Africa Field Evaluation and Dissemination of Im-proved Crop Varieties Using Mutation Breed-ing and Biotechnology Techniques

M. Spencer/S. Dharmapuri

RAS/5/045 Regional Asia Improvement of Crop Quality and Stress Tol-erance for Sustainable Crop Production Using Mutation Techniques and Biotechnology (RCA)

Y. Lokko/P.J.L. Lagoda

RAS/5/048 Regional Asia Mutation Induction and Supportive Breeding and Biotechnologies for Improving Crop Productivity (ARASIA)

P.J.L. Lagoda

RER/5/013 Regional Europe Evaluation of Natural and Mutant Genetic Di-versity in Cereals Using Nuclear and Molecu-lar Techniques

Y. Lokko/S. Dharmapuri

RLA/5/056 Regional Latin America

Improving Food Crops in Latin America though Induced Mutation (ARCAL CV)

M. Spencer/Y. Lokko

SAF/5/010 South Africa Development of New Maize and Sorghum Germplasm with Enhanced Nutritional Con-tent

Y. Lokko

SAF/5/012 South Africa Analysing the Level of Drought Tolerance in Mutant Gerplasms of Cowpea and Amaranthus Using Molecular Biotechnology

Y. Lokko

SAU/5/003 Saudi Arabia Improving Fertilization under Saline Condi-tions for Sustainable Crop Production

S. Dharmapuri/P.J.L. Lagoda in collaboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section

SEN/5/030 Senegal Integrated Approach to Develop Sustainable Agriculture in Senegal

M. Spencer in collaboration with Soil and Water Manage-ment and Crop Nutrition Sec-tion

SEN/5/032 Senegal Improving the Productivity of Jatropha Curcas Plantations in Semi-Arid Areas

M. Spencer

SIL/5/009 Sierra Leone Improving Sorghum Productivity Through Nuclear and Biotechnology

S. Dharmapuri/Y. Lokko

SUD/5/030 Sudan Increasing productivity of Selected Crops Us-ing Nuclear Related Techniques

M. Spencer/P.J.L. Lagoda in collaboration with Soil and Wa-ter Management and Crop Nu-trition Section

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Project Number Country Title and Objective(s) Technical Officer

THA/5/049 Thailand Increasing Productivity of Selected Crops Us-ing Nuclear Related Techniques

Y. Lokko/P.J.L. Lagoda

TUN/5/023 Tunisia Radiation-Induced Mutations for Improvement of Cactus

Y. Lokko

TUN/5/024 Tunisia Development of Improved Strains of Olive Tree Through Mutation Breeding and Biotech-nology

Y. Lokko

TUR/5/025 Turkey Using Molecular Techniques for Enhancing the Efficiency of Mutation Induction and Uti-lization of Mutants in Agriculture

Y. Lokko/P.J.L. Lagoda

URT/5/026 United Republic of Tanzania

Improving Rice Varieties through Mutation Breeding and Biotechnology in Zanzibar

S. Dharmapuri/Y. Lokko

UZB/5/004 Uzbekistan Development of Mutant Cotton Breeding Lines Tolerant to Diseases, Drought and Salin-ity

Y. Lokko

UZB/5/005 Uzbekistan Developing Mutant Cotton Breeding Lines Tolerant to Diseases, Drought and Salinity (Phase II)

Y. Lokko/P.J.L. Lagoda

YEM/5/008 Yemen Introduction of Gamma Ray Irradiation Tech-niques for Agriculture Purposes

Y. Lokko

YEM/5/010 Yemen Using Induced Mutations and Efficiency En-hancing Bio-molecular Techniques for Sus-tainable Crop Production

Y. Lokko

ZAI/5/016 Democratic Re-public of the Congo

Mutation Techniques for Improving Nutrition-al and Medicinal Plants with a Curative Effect on Human Diseases and Alimentary Plants

M. Spencer

ZAM/5/026 Zambia Improving Crop Varieties through Use of Nu-clear Techniques

Y. Lokko in collaboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section

ZIM/5/013 Zimbabwe Development of Drought Tolerant and Disease Resistant Grain Legumes, Phase I

Y. Lokko

TC Projects Closed in 2010/2011 Project Number Country Title and Objective(s) Technical Officer

BGD/5/026 Bangladesh Increasing Agricultural Production in the Coastal Area through Improved Crop, Water and Soil Man-agement

S. Dharmapuri/Y. Lokko in collaboration with Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section

BOT/5/003 Botswana Mutational Improvement of Groundnut Varieties S. Dharmapuri/M. Spencer

NIR/5/035 Nigeria Adding Value to Root and Tuber Crops Through the Use of Mutation Induction and Biotechnologies

Y. Lokko

ROK/5/035 Republic of Korea

Using a Gamma Phytotron for Mutant Induction to Improve Food and Ornamental Crops

P.J.L. Lagoda

For details, see the IAEA Technical Cooperation Programme’s Website at:

http://www-tc.iaea.org/tcweb/default.asp

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TC Project HighlightsAdding Value to Root and Tuber Crops Through the Use of Mutation Induction and Biotechnologies, NIR/5/035 The genetic improvement of root and tuber crops is ham-pered by several factors including asynchronous flower-ing, low seed set, long growth circles, inherent high lev-els of heterozygosity and narrow genetic base of putative parents for hybridization schemes. These hinder the abil-ity of scientists to introgress desired traits into well adapted germplasm leading to a continued dependence on cultivars with low nutritive values, high levels of anti-nutrients (such as cyanogenic glycosides in young leaves of cassava) and other undesirable quality traits. Further-more, the continuous use of vegetative propagules from disease infected plants results in a progressive decline in yield. These also compromise the market values of these crops with dire consequences for the incomes and health status of the resource-poor farming households who sub-sist on these crops. Generating novel genetic variation in elite varieties of cassava is important to overcome these constrains. In-duced mutagenesis through the use of nuclear techniques supported with biotechnologies such as meristem culture, micro-propagation, ELISA and PCR based techniques are suitable for genetic improvement of root and tuber crop. For the 2007/2008 TC cycle, Nigeria requested support from the IAEA to develop new varieties of root and tuber crops with enhanced quality traits. These efforts were to be channelled through the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Umudike to the eventual beneficiar-ies — resource-poor rural farmers (predominantly wom-en) who subsist on root and tuber crop production as well as scientists who would have access to a wider germplasm resource. As part of the capacity building activities in the project, two staff members of NRCRI were trained for a total of 12 months in (i) evaluation and screening for root quality traits and statistical analysis of data and (ii) in mutation induction using both in vivo and in vitro methods, han-dling and advancing of initial mutant generations, evalua-tion and recording of mutagenic effects. Laboratory and screen house facilities at NRCRI were upgraded and the project supplied necessary equipment and consumables for development and propagation of mutant populations. Nine distinct cultivars of cocoyam, three of Xanthosoma spp. and six of Colocasia spp. were propagated in vitro for improvement through mutation induction under the project. In vitro cultures were initiated using either meri-stem tips or shoot tips. Plantlets were subsequently mul-tiplied by shoot sub-cultures. In the first year of the pro-ject corms and cormels of two Xanthosoma spps cultivars were subjected to 5Gy and 10Gy of gamma radiation. Using the minisett technique, 25g sett segments were planted in the field as the first generation of irradiated materials M1V1. After a full growth period in the field they were harvested and the resultant M1V2 corms and

cormels were planted in polybags and stored in the screen house during the dry season. They were then planted in-dividually for the second year to raise the M1V2 plants. To date, a 5Gy M1V2 population of 2255 plants and a 10Gy M1V2 population of 978 plants have been raised which will be propagated by minisett technology to raise the M1V3 generation in the 2011 planting season. In addition the counterpart institution has contributed to the dissemination of the techniques and knowledge in Nigeria. Being the only agriculture research institute in South Eastern Nigeria, NRCRI provides an enabling en-vironment for much needed practical experience in agri-cultural biotechnology for students mostly from the south eastern universities who take advantage of the plant tis-sue culture and molecular biology facilities available in the institute. There are undergraduate student trainees attached to the programme as well as postgraduate stu-dents carrying out their research projects. In 2009, 36 undergraduate students from eight institutions of higher learning used the upgraded facilities. This TC project has thus contributed immensely to enhancing scientific learn-ing in Nigeria and was closed in 2010.

Y. Lokko Technical Officer

Improvement of Crop Quality and Stress Tolerance for Sustainable Crop Produc-tion Using Mutation Techniques and Bio-technology, RAS/5/045 Under the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) for Asia and the Pacific, the IAEA approved a new regional technical cooperation project RAS/5/045 in 2006. This project aims to accelerate crop quality and stress toler-ance improvement through the use of mutation tech-niques and biotechnology. The first planning and coordination meeting of this pro-ject was organized in collaboration with the Malaysian Nuclear Agency, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 25–29 June 2007. The meeting was attended by 20 participants from Australia, Bangladesh, China (2), India (2), Indonesia, Malaysia (3), Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philip-pines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand (2) and Vietnam. The meeting reviewed and discussed the issues pertinent to each participating RCA country in the con-text of the overall objectives of this project. Consensus was reached on both overall project and country-wise workplans. The progress achieved was reviewed at the mid-term meeting which was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 16–20 February 2009. The meeting was attend-ed by 22 participants from the participating Member States. This meeting provided an opportunity to further strengthen collaboration between the research teams, dis-cuss and critically assess individual workplans and rec-ommend suitable changes where required. In addition to technical work done within each country, three regional training courses were conducted to ensure

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that a platform of key technologies was made available to all participanting countries. The courses were on (i) Mu-tation breeding approaches to improving salinity, drought and heat stress tolerance (held in Beijing, China, 13–22 October 2008), (ii) Mutation breeding approaches to im-proving disease resistance (organized in Mumbai, India, 5–9 October 2009) and (iii) Mutation breeding approach-es to improving protein and starch quality (held in Lis-more, Australia, 23–27 March 2009) and were attended by 20, 14 and 13 participants respectively. In addition, a national training course on TILLING techniques was or-ganised in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 7–11 December, 2009 where 44 participants were trained. The training courses in China, Australia and Vietnam were facilitated by at least one to two international experts, while the course in India was facilitated by staff of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Furthermore, four ex-pert missions aimed at the preparation of training materi-als and manuals were implemented. An IAEA expert mission to assess impact and dissemination of rice mutant varieties developed under a previous TC project (RAS/5/037) was also implemented. In March 2010, the final review meeting of this project was held in Bangkok, Thailand. A consultants meeting to review the modalities for the establishment of a regional network, Asian Asso-ciation of Mutagenesis in Crop Plants, was held in Xi’an, China, 6–8 September 2010.

Significant progress has been made towards achieving the expected specific outputs. These include the: � Generation of well characterised and stable crop mu-

tants for important agronomic traits such as im-proved yield, resistance to diseases, protein, oil, starch and sugar content that are currently in yield trials or national pre-release trials.

� Evaluation of selected mutants and their use in breeding programmes and population improvement.

� Development of several mutant varieties developed under previous IAEA assisted TC and CRP projects that have been disseminated to farmers and officially released as new varieties.

� Production of training materials including proce-dures and manuals on the use of mutation techniques and biotechnology for routine application in identi-fying specific desirable plant/crop characteristics.

� Training of personnel in the use of mutation breed-ing and biotechnology for improving water use effi-ciency and tolerance to drought stresses, salinity and crop quality and nutritional characters.

� Formation of an Asia and Oceania Association of Plant Mutagenesis (AOAPM).

Y. Lokko Technical Officer

News from Ug99Responding to the transboundary threat of wheat black stem rust (Ug99), INT/5/150 In June 2010, INT/5/150 participants sent induced popu-lations and lines to be tested in Kenya. A total number of 283 000 individuals (40 genotypes of wheat and barley) from 11 countries were screened. Moi, Egerton, Kenya is an endemic hotspot for three of the most virulent deriva-tives of Ug99.

Wheat black stem rust screening field at Moi University, Egerton, Kenya (photo courtesy of Prof Miriam Kinyua)

The careful screening for resistance to the disease al-lowed the identification of fifteen putatively resistant lines in M2 generations in 11 countries. In addition, more than 100 M2 plants were scored and selection made for (i) medium susceptibility (65 MS), and (ii) medium re-sistance (42 MR). These lines were also screened based on traits other than rust resistance to include other diseas-es, drought tolerance, quality, plant height, maturity, and salt tolerance. These results mark a major milestone for the project implementation and the highest priority now will be the validation of these results.

Wheat Ug99 resistance scoring at Moi, Kenya (photos courtesy of Prof Miriam Kinyua)

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Future mutation activities of this project will be extended to target rust diseases in general, including yellow rust (stripe rust), brown rust (leaf rust), and Septoria to con-tribute to an eventual broadening gene base for rust re-sistance, albeit with an emphasis on Ug99 and its deriva-tives. This IAEA project will focus on advancing the mu-

tant lines, identifying and characterizing the resistance genes and applying double haploid (DH) techniques to advance generations.

Pierre J.L. Lagoda Technical Officer

HighlightsZhejiang University, Hangzhou, China is an IAEA col-laborating centre for mutant germplasm enhancement and exploitation of plants. It has been intensively work-ing on mutation breeding, genetics and biotechnology of crop plant especially rice. In the past ten years, eight rice mutant varieties have been released for commercial pro-duction. Dozens of induced mutant lines with enhanced agronomic or quality and nutritional traits have been generated and utilized in breeding programmes. Six im-portant mutant genes have been cloned. The collaborat-ing centre has also become a hub for human resources development supported by the IAEA’s technical coopera-tion projects. More than a dozen fellows from Asia, Afri-ca and South America have been trained here in the past decade.

Research highlights 1. Development of high resistant starch rice and

wheat. Dianxing Wu and his colleagues at the cen-tre have developed a series of rice and wheat mutant lines with elevated resistant starch levels. Resistant starch is a special type of edible fibre and consid-ered to be a healthy food ingredient. High resistant starch rice has shown to be suitable for patients with type II diabetes; patients can maintain their blood glucose index after eating this special rice variety which is not possible when normal rice is con-sumed. A new product named ‘Yitangmi’ or rice suitable for diabetes patients has already been com-mercialized using the high resistant starch rice as the key ingredient.

YITANGMI: Rice suitable for diabetes patients

2. Development of mutant traits for hybrid seed production. Hybrid crops have higher and more stable yields and thus are considered to be of great importance for food security. In China, hybrid rice varieties cover about 40% of the rice growing area. Male sterile lines — either due to cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) or photoperiod/thermal-sensitive genic male sterility (P/TGMS) — are the key genet-

ic tools in hybrid seed production. However, they can also produce certain amounts of self-pollinated seeds due to leaky sterility particularly under ex-treme temperature variations. This can result in losses to farmers and seed companies because hy-brid seeds with a high percentage of self-pollination in male sterile lines cannot be cultivated profitably. To cope with this issue, the centre has generated two mutant traits that are embedded in male sterile lines. These traits are leaf colour markers (albino seed-lings that revert to green and grow into yellow plants) and herbicide susceptibility. These traits as-sist in the easy identification of self-pollinated es-capee seedlings derived from male sterile lines. They can be easily removed at the seedling stage to generate a pure population of hybrid plants in the field.

JIAYOU 99: Hybrid rice variety with super quality and yield being grown in Zhejiang Province, China. A herbicide susceptible mutant trait was embedded into its male sterile line (Jiazhe A) via mutagene-sis (Photo courtesy of Prof Qingyao Shu)

3. Low phytic acid mutant germplasm of both nu-trition and environment importance. Commonly known as phytic acid (PA), inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate [Ins(1,2,3,4,5,6)P6, InsP6] is the major phosphorus storage form in plant seeds. It of-ten exists in the form of a mixed salt (phytate or PA-P) with mineral cations such as Zn2+ and Fe3+. Phos-phorus in PA or PA-P form is almost indigestible for monogastric animals. Undigested PA-P excreted in manure has become an important source of envi-ronmental phosphorus pollution as it can cause eu-trophication and impaired water quality. Therefore,

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the abundance of PA-P in grain food/feed has a number of nutritional, agricultural and environmen-tal consequences and there is considerable interest in generating low phytic acid (LPA) crops. The col-laborating centre has been working on this subject for the past ten years and has generated a dozen LPA rice, soybean and barley mutant lines. The un-derpinning genes have been identified for nine mu-tant lines and allele-specific molecular markers have been developed for marker-assisted selection. The mutant lines have been introduced into breeding programs by other groups in China as well as in Australia, Canada and the Philippines. An elite LPA line of soybean has already undergone national yield trials and is expected to become a new variety with-in 2–3 years

For more information, contact Prof Qingyao Shu (Email: qyshu@zju.edu.cn)

Participants at the Workshop on Breeding Low Phytic Acid Crops —organized in December 2010 by Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Chi-na (Photo courtesy of Prof Qinyao Shu)

Prof Qingyao Shu Zhejiang University

Developments at the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory, Seibersdorf

Introduction Readers picking up this newsletter for the first time may be unaware of the decades-long commitment of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory (PBGL) in supporting capacity in Member States to use mutations to develop superior crops. The PBGL has the distinction of being the only laboratory dedicated to Plant Breeding and Genetics in the United Nations system. Efforts to support capacity in Member States are carried out through a three pronged approach of providing technical services, training, and in technology development, adaptation and dissemination. The work is both challenging and rewarding. Below you will find a brief overview of activities since the last newsletter.

Technology development and adaptation Summer is the perfect time to witness the awesome bio-diversity the Earth has to offer. Flowers are in bloom, trees covered with leaves, birds fill the air with their songs, and the ground comes alive with insects when a picnic is prepared. A rich biodiversity provides a pleasant backdrop for human activities. Biodiversity is also the cornerstone for productive and sustainable agriculture. The diversity of polymorphisms in genes and controlling elements provides a deep resource for plant breeders to develop crops with improved traits in order to meet the growing challenges of a changing climate, increasing population and a shift to more resource demanding meat based diets. Where extant diversity is unavailable or dif-ficult to employ, novel diversity can be induced through the process of mutagenesis. This has been successfully applied for many decades for the development of superior crops, and is the cornerstone of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory. The R&D activities of the PBGL

are aimed at developing and adapting technologies, pro-tocols and guidelines for the more efficient use of in-duced mutations for functional genomics and breeding.

Phenotypic characterization of mutants and accessions As previously reported, a mutated population of Grande Naine banana has been generated and studied for the presence of induced mutations with the use of the TILLING reverse-genetics method. A high density of induced and heritable mutations has been observed, suggesting the efficacy of induced mutation approaches for forward and reverse-genetics approaches in vegetatively propagated species. In addition to genotypic analysis, the population was subjected to phenotypic evaluation. Putative mutants were transferred into the greenhouse at the M1V10 stage and subjected acclimatized in vivo. Morphological measurements were taken following standardized banana descriptors. A variety of traits were observed that deviated from measurements in the non-mutagenized wild-type plants. These included changes in leaf morphology, leaf coloration such as discoloration, darker green and various forms of variegation; leaf deformation, uneven lamina; leaves with decreased size, and many other deformations such as narrow or erect leaves, long but weak, broad and oval; with tendency to roll up at edges; changes in leaf texture such as waxy, leathery or rough, crumpling and rough veins. The maintenance of plants through successive rounds of mitotic propagation raises questions with regards to the causative nature of phenotypic variation. Future efforts will aim to determine if phenotypic variation arises via gene function defects caused by the

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presence of induced mutations, rapid accumulation of natural DNA polymorphism, or epigenetic changes. The PBGL continues with comparative studies of the ef-fect of gamma and X ray irradiation on rice plants. The main objective is to produce optimized protocols for X ray treatment and subsequent early evaluation of muta-genized plants, especially the development of methods for accurate dose selection for bulk irradiation of investigated varieties. For this purpose, five Malagasy rice accessions have been used and irradiated with gamma and X ray with the following doses: 75, 150, 300, 450 and 600 Gy. This work began as part of a TC fellowship training in the PBGL (MAG/5/018). The effect of irradiation has been observed on the M1 generation, to make a general estimation of the utility of the different doses. One of the five accessions has been selected for further analyses in the M2 stage. Four thousand and six hundred M2 rice plants have been germinated. Phenotypic characterisation of the M2 plants has been performed for a variety of traits including growth rate, chlorophyll content, and cytologi-cal studies of microspore viability. Phenotypic characteri-sation of the M2 plants showed differences in the re-sponse to the various mutagens and sources of irradiation. Furthermore, various morphological differences were observed in M3 seeds using visual analysis methods. Sev-eral putative mutant lines with promising traits have re-cently been selected and the M4 population is being grown for seed multiplication for NIRS analysis. This work is part of the Coordinated Research Project on En-hancing the Efficiency of Mutagenesis through an Inte-grated Biotechnology Pipeline (D2.40.12). Low cost assays for mutation discovery and reverse-genetics Reverse-genetics, the act of targeting the disruption of specific genes or other sequences prior to any investment in phenotypic evaluation, is a powerful hypothesis-driven method to probe and validate gene function and to direct the development of plants with desired traits. Such pre-selection of desired mutants can greatly reduce field propagation and phenotyping efforts. The TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) strategy combines induced mutations with mutation discovery methods for a generic reverse-genetics platform that can be applied to most species. A major bottleneck in the transfer of TILLING to developing countries is the ex-pense and expertise needed for most mutation discovery methods. The PBGL is continuing efforts to develop, adapt, and disseminate low cost mutation discovery methods that can be used for TILLING and also for the characterization of DNA polymorphisms in natural popu-lations (a procedure known as Ecotilling)

Recent objectives and research activities in the PBGL were concentrated on the usage of a simple and low cost agarose gels to detect digested fragments and compare data to that collected on a high-throughput genetic ana-lyzer. So far, these approaches have been applied on both natural and mutated populations. Since the last newslet-ter, the PBGL continues its efforts in transferring TILL-ING/Ecotilling to other species. In conjunction with the fellowship training (TC project MAR/10005) the PBGL and TC research fellow Ms. Banumaty Saraye succeeded in adapting the method for the tomato. The tomato is an im-portant commodity grown in Mauritius and is being used widely in the Mauritian cuisine. The broad goals of Ms Saraye’s project are to develop climate-hardened tomatoes that can resist heat stress brought on by climatic variations, and plants with increased resistance to bacterial wilt. With climate change, the noted rise in temperature has a negative impact on tomato yield. Candidate mutants with altered characteristics have been isolated and screened for induced mutations with the use of the TILLING method. Similar work has been done to de-velop a robust platform for low cost discovery and charac-terization of a natural variation. The experiment suggests that the low cost assay can be successfully used for both mutant and natural accessions characterization in the Mau-ritian tomato. In related work, we have also initiated a study with the cooperation of Dr Kamila Kozak of the Wroclaw Univer-sity of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland, a cur-rent intern at PBGL, on Lupinus, a member of the Legu-minosae family. These important crops are useful for ag-riculture (seeds are high in protein and oil content), bio-technology (ability to produce various alkaloids) and ecology (flexibility to adapt to environmental challeng-es). Special architecture of the long central tap and prote-oid roots, as well symbiosis with Bradyrhizobium bacte-ria (free nitrogen fixation), allows using this plant group to remove contamination from soil (phytoremediation function), improve soil fertility, and help other plant spe-cies colonize the land. Ecotilling strategies were opti-mized for lupin accessions in order to study the natural nucleotide diversity and to identify promising genotypes as parental material for mutagenesis to create TLLING populations. The low cost agarose gel based SNP discov-ery approach has been successfully adapted and applied, and several natural point mutations have been identified. The method can be further utilized at the University of Wroclaw to enhance detection where induced mutation and crossing are common methods used by plant breed-ers.

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Totamato varieties from Mauritius grown in PBGL greenhouse in Seibersdorf

Adapting platforms for other crops While the core crops the PBGL work on are banana, cas-sava, and rice, the many research fellows trained in the lab bring with them the desire to improve a wide range of other crop species. As such, PBGL maintains competen-cies in tissue culture, phenotyping and molecular tech-niques for a variety of different plants, and continues to develop broadly applicable technology platforms. The most recent work is focused on Sorghum. Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop and is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people in more than 30 coun-tries. Current research fellow, Ms Wajida Zaarawi, is learning techniques for the use of induced mutations to improve Sorghum production in Iraq. The PBGL has been devoting efforts to evaluate mutation discovery and TILLING platforms for Sorghum through collaborations with Dr Zhanguo Xin of the United States Department of Agriculture and Dr Clifford Weil of Purdue University. Dr Xin, the developer of a successful Sorghum TILLING platform in the USA, has supplied PBGL with DNAs from mutagenized lines. These are being used for primer development, gene target selection, and validation of as-says. Dr Weil has shared with PBGL a set of lyophilized tissue from a mutagenized Sorghum population. These samples are being used for assay development of high quality and low cost DNA extraction, optimization of mutation discovery, and estimations of mutation spec-trum and density. The use of lyophilized tissue is poten-tially advantageous as samples can be stored for long pe-riods of time without the need for freezers that require a constant source of electricity.

Positive control kits The PBGL continues to provide assistance on mutation detection through production and distribution of positive control kits that contain DNA with known mutations or polymorphisms, gene-specific primers, and other materi-als for mutation discovery by agarose gel or Li-Cor DNA analyzer. Fellows trained at the PBGL also benefit from using the kit for learning this low cost alternative for DNA mutation discovery. Two requests for the positive control kit were received in the first half of 2011 (Nigeria and the Philippines). Protocols for the positive control kits can be found online (see next section).

Protocols, guidelines and services Readers are encouraged to visit the newly designed site called Mutation Enhanced Technologies for Agriculture (META, http://mvgs.iaea.org/). Here you will find the mutant varieties database that catalogues over 3000 mu-tant plant varieties (you are welcome to register your own variety here). META also connects to the laboratory pro-tocols page for the PBGL (http://mvgs.iaea.org/LaboratoryProtocals.aspx) where readers can access laboratory protocols as well as infor-mation and request forms for various services provided by PBGL. Our aim is to make this protocols section de-mand driven. Please contact us if you have ideas for pro-tocols or other content that you think would facilitate your work.

Services in support of activities in Mem-ber States The table below summarises the irradiation service re-quests that were received from six Member States and carried out during the period from January to May 2011. The services included irradiation of seeds or propagules from seven different plant species and also two radio-sensitivity tests performed on four crop varieties. Member State Crop species Pakistan � Wheat Germany � Ornamental plants (1700 cut-

tings) Jamaica � Sweet yam (300 cuttings)

� Ginger (2200 cuttings) Poland � Lupinus angustifolius Kenya � Hordeum vulgare Mauritius � Brassica oleracea V. capitata

� Brassica oleracea V. botrytis Genotyping services include AFLP analysis of mutant varieties and DNA sequencing of identified mutations. Since the beginning of 2011, this work included analysis of samples from internal R&D projects, research fellow-

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ship projects (TC projects), other agricultural laboratories within Joint Programme (Animal Production and Health Laboratory) and external requests direct from Member States (Mauritius). A total of 2816 samples were ana-lyzed in the first half of 2011. Training and human capacity building The PBGL remained active in the area of individual and group training in the last six months. The highlights in-clude the following:

Individual trainees A total of ten (10) individual trainees, made up of eight fellows and two interns, joined the PBGL between Janu-

ary and June 2011 and worked on specific research pro-jects under the tutelage of PBGL staff members. The eight Fellows from eight countries were supported by the IAEA Technical Cooperation (TC) Programme to en-hance capacities in areas where skills critical for the im-plementation of TC projects were lacking in their home institutions. Details of the Fellows and Interns are pro-vided in the following tables.

Fellows Name Country Areas of training Period

Ms Banumaty SARAYE Mauritius � Genetic diversity study of different accessions of chil-li and tomato from Mauri-tius

� TILLING and Ecotilling for characterization of Mauri-tian chilli and tomato germplasms and putative mutants

January–May 2011

Ms Moe Thida KYAW Myanmar � Induced mutagenesis for crop improvement

� Nutritional phenotyping of rice mutants lines

March–June 2011

Ms Wajida ZAARAWI Iraq � Mutation induction on sor-ghum spp.

� Salinity phenotyping of wheat mutant lines

April–June 2011

Ms Raouia DHOUIBI Tunisia � Mutation induction on Olea europea

� Tunisia Olea spp. Genetic diversity study

March–August 2011

Mr Stephen Kipchirchi KIMNO Kenya � Mutation induction on Ar-temisa

� Germplasm characteriza-tion

March–May 2011

Mr Maman Dadamassi MAMAN

Niger � Induced mutagenesis and molecular mutant character-ization

Expected June–September 2011

Mr Harimialimalala J. RABE-FIRAISANA

Madagascar � Induced mutagenesis and molecular mutant character-ization

Expected June–September 2011

Mr Ibrahima DIEDHIOU Senegal � Induced mutagenesis and molecular mutant character-ization

Expected June–September 2011

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Interns Name Country Areas of training Period

Ms Kamila KOZAK Poland � Cytological and phenotypic analyses of M2 rice plants

� Technology transfer to the Lupines spp.

August 2010–September 2011

Ms Farzaneh SHIRAZI Iran � Induced mutagenesis in in vitro propagated plants

� TILLING and Ecotilling strategies for mutant germplasm characterization

June–November 2011

Scientific visitors During the course of the first half of 2011, one scientist visited the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory under this category.

Name Country Areas of training Period

Ms Julia BROWN Jamaica � Induced mutations in crop improvement and related biotechnologies

18–22 October 2010

Group photo of PBGL staff, interns and fellows present in the lab in the first half of 2011

Professional networking In an effort to enhance scientific networking and increase the quality of services provided to Member States, the PBGL and Plant Breeding and Genetics Section has re-cently developed a LinkedIn profile (http://at.linkedin.com/pub/iaea-plant-breeding-and-

genetics/31/4b6/aa3). We have also created a LinkedIn discussion group called IM PLANTS (Induced Mutations in Plants). We hope that this can serve as a real time re-source where experts can share views and advice on top-ics surrounding induced mutations and plant breeding. You are welcome to join our network!

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IAEA Plant Breeding and Genetics page on LinkedIn

PBGL participation in international con-ferneces

Mr B.J. Till San Diego, USA : � Attended the International Plant and Animal

Genome Conference XIX, 15–19 January 2011. Gave oral presentations on the adaptive R&D activi-ties of the PBGL in the Gene Introgression workshop and also the Banana (Musa) Genomics workshop. Also presented data on Musa drought screening in the poster session and served as a repre-sentative at the Global Musa Genomics Consortium Meeting held in parallel with the conference.

Norwich, UK (scheduled at the press time) : � Scheduled trip to visit the John Innes Centre to give

a seminar on the activities of the PBGL in deve-loping TILLING and Ecotilling platforms for vege-tatively propagated crops.

Ms J. Jankowicz-Cieslak Istanbul, Turkey : � Attended the 9th Plant Genomics European Meeting

(Plant GEM) meets global challenges, 4–7 May 2011. Gave an oral presentation on the TILLING and Ecotilling approaches to study biotic and abiotic stress responses in Musa during the Session 5 : Plant Biotechnology.

TILLING and Ecotilling positive control kit The Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory (PBGL) has developed a positive control kit for TILLING and Ecotilling that it is now available upon request for researchers in Member States. The kit contains genomic DNA with known nucleotide polymorphisms, gene-specific oligonucleotide primers, buffers and enzymes for mutation and polymorphism discovery. Along with the protocols, examples of high quality data produced with these materials are provided to serve as a reference point for assay optimizations.

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Publications Staff Publication in the Field of Plant Breeding and Genetics

Journal Publications/Book Chapters JAIN, S.H., TILL, B.J., SUPRASANNA, P., ROUX, N., Mutations and cultivar development in banana, Chapter 10 In Banana Breeding : Progress and Challenges ; CRC Press (2011) 203–218. LOKKO, Y., MBA, C., SPENCER, M., TILL, B.J., LA-GODA, P., Nanotechnology and synthetic biology : Po-tential in crop improvement, International Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment. In Press MBA, C., AFZA, R., BADO, S., JAIN, S.M., Induced mutagenesis in plant using physical and chemical agents, Plant Cell Culture : Essential Methods (2010) DOI : 10.1002/9780470686522.ch7. TADELE, Z., MBA, C., TILL, B.J., TILLING for muta-tions in model plants and crops, In Molecular Techniqies iin Crop Improvement, 2nd edition, Springer, Nether-lands (2010) 307–332. TILL, B.J., Mutation detection in plants by enzymatic mismatchcleavage, In The handbook of Plant Mutagene-sis and Mutant Screening (Mining of Natural and Induced Alleles), Wiley-Blackwell-VHC, Germany (2010) 131–148. WANG, T., UAUY, C., TILL, B.J., LIU, C.M., TILLING and associated technologies, Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 52 11 (2010) 1027–1030. TILL, B.J., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., SAGI, L., HUYNH, O.A., UTSUSHI, H., SWEENEN, R., TE-RAUCHI, R., MBA, C., Discovery of nucleotide poly-morphisms in the Musa gene pool by ecotilling, Theoreti-cal and Applied Genetics (2010) (E-pub ahead of print).

Conferences JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., KOZAK, K., TILL, B.J., GALEK, R., SAWICKA-SIENKIEWICZ, E., Ecotilling as efficient SNP discovery tool to investigate genetic va-riation in Lupinus sp., 13th International Lupin Confe-rence 6–10 June 2011, Poznań, Poland. KOZAK, K., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., BADO, S. TILL, B.J., GALEK, R., SAWICKA-SIENKIEWICZ, E., Inter-varietal differences of Lupinus sp. Responses to the chemical and physical mutagens, 13th International Lu-pin Conference 6–10 June 2011, Poznań, Poland. JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., HUYNH, O., MATIJEVIC, M. BADO, S., TILL, B.J. TILLING and Ecotilling ap-

proaches to study biotic and abiotic stress responses in Musa. Oral presentation at the 9th Plant Genomics Euro-pean Meeting (Plant GEM) meets global challenges (Abstract P15 printed in the abstract book) 4–7 May 2011, Istanbul, Turkey. MAGHULY, F., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., TILL, B.J., CALARI, A., RAMKAT, R., LAIMER, M., Ecotil-ling as efficient SNP discovery tool to investigate genetic variation in non-domesticated Jatropha curcas. Abstract book of the International Conference on Plant Gene Dis-covery Technologies, 23–26 February 2011, Vienna, Austria. JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., BROZYNSKA, M., RA-PACZ, M., HUYNH, O., MATIJEVIC, M., BADO, S., TILL, B.J., TILLING and Ecotilling approaches to study genetic contributions to drought response in Musa. Abs-tract book of the International Conference on Plant Gene Discovery Technologies, 23–26 February 2011, Vienna, Austria. KOZAK, K., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., BADO, S., TILL, B.J., GALEK, R., SAWICKA-SEINKIEWICZ, E., Optimization of TILLING and Ecotilling techniques in Lupinus sp. Abstract book of the International Confe-rence on Plant Gene Discovery Technologies, 23–26 Fe-bruary 2011, Vienna, Austria. TILL, B.J., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., HUYNH, O., BADO, S., MATIJEVIC, M., High-throughput TILLING in vegetatively propagated plants. Abstract book of the International Conference on Plant Gene Discovery Tech-nologies, 23–26 February 2011, Vienna, Austria. JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., BROZYNSKA, M., CIESLAK, J., ADU-GYAMFI, J., MBA, C., TILL, B.J., RAPACZ, M., Physiological profiling of drought res-ponse in diverse Musa accessions. Plant and Animal Genomes XIX Conference (Abstract P669) 15–19 Ja-nuary 2011, San Diego, USA. TILL, B.J., HUYNH, O., DUSSORUTH, B., JANKO-WICZ-CIESLAK, J., Reverse-genetics and polymor-phism discovery in Musa. Plant and Animal Genomes XIX Conference (Abstract W071) 15–19 January 2011, San Diego, USA. TILL, B.J., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J., HUYNH, O., BADO, S., MATIJEVIC, M., Mutation induction and reverse-genetic strategies for understudied crops. Plant and Animal Genomes XIX Conference (Abstract W281) 15–19 January 2011, San Diego, USA.

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Non-IAEA Publication in the Field of Plant Breeding and Genetics

Date Palm Biotechnology S.M. Jain, J. Al-Khayri and D.V. Johnson (Eds.)

About this book This important reference book is the first comprehensive resource that reflects research achievements in date palm biotechnology, documenting research events during the last four decades, current status, and future outlook worldwide. It brings together the principles and practices of contemporary date palm biotechnology. The book is essential for researchers, policy makers, and commercial entrepreneurs concerned with date palm. It is invaluable for date palm biotechnology students and specialists. This monument is written by an international team of experi-enced researchers from both academia and industry. Each chapter contains background knowledge related to the topic, followed by a comprehensive literature review of research methodology and results including the authors own experience and supported with illustrative tables and photographs. In addition to an introductory chapter, the book consists of thirty two review chapters highlighting progress and current research status covering various as-pects of date palm biotechnology in five sections: (A) Discusses the research development, methodology, and commercial application of micropropagation in seven chapters, (B) Deals with the research development and applications of somaclonal variation and mutation in date palm, covered in seven chapters, (C) Describes the status of date palm germplasm and current techniques employed in conservation and molecular characterization are de-scribed in seven chapters, (D) Addresses research pro-gress made in date palm genetics and breeding in eight chapters, (E) Describes up-to-date progress made in me-tabolites and industrial biotechnology in three chapters.

2011 Hardcover ISBN 978-94-007-1317-8

Protocols for In Vitro Propagation of Or-namental Plants S.M. Jain and S. Ochatt (Eds.) About this book While ornamental plants are produced mainly for their aesthetic value, the propagation and improvement of quality attributes such as leaf types, flower colour and fragrance, longevity and form, plant shape and architec-ture, and the creation of novel variation are important economic goals for the expanding ornamental industry. In Protocols for In Vitro Propagation of Ornamental Plants, leading researchers in the field compile step-wise proto-cols for rapid plant multiplication and in vitro storage of major commercially viable ornamental plants. Divided into two sections, Section A contains chapters mainly on micropropagation of cut and pot flowers with detailed protocols involving in vitro culture-explants, medium preparation, detailed medium table, shoot initiation and proliferation, root induction, in vitro plant hardening, and field transfer, and Section B delves into reviews on topics such as in vitro production of sweet peas, the status of transgenics in ornamental plants, in vitro conservation, the status of floriculture in Europe, azalea phylogeny, and thin cell layers. As part of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology™ series, chapters include introduc-tions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary ma-terials, step-by-step laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and clear, Protocols for In Vitro Propaga-tion of Ornamental Plants presents key techniques that will be of great use to floriculturists, researchers, com-mercial companies, biotechnologists, and students deal-ing with ornamental plants.

2010 Hardcover ISBN 978-1-60327-390-9

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Protocols for In Vitro Cultures and Sec-ondary Metabolite Analysis of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants S.M. Jain and P.K. Saxena (Eds.)

About this book Given the vital and far-reaching applications of medicinal plant metabolites worldwide, the quality and consistency of the products as well as the very survival of various species are of the utmost importance. In Protocols for In Vitro Cultures and Secondary Metabolite Analysis of

Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, expert researchers pro-vide detailed, step-by-step protocols for the establishment of in vitro cultures of key medicinal plants, their mass multiplication in a controlled environment, and step-wise secondary metabolite analysis, genetic transformation, large-scale metabolite production in a bioreactor, and molecular markers. In addition, many of these protocols will provide a basis for much needed efforts of in vitro germplasm conservation or cryopreservation of medicinal plant species at the brink of extinction as well as efforts to protect them from the adverse impact of rapid climatic changes. As a volume in the Methods in Molecular Biol-ogy™ series, chapters include introductions to their re-spective topics, lists of the necessary materials and rea-gents, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and authoritative, Protocols for In Vitro Cultures and Secondary Metabolite Analysis of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants is an ideal resource for scientists endeavoring to continue the research on this exciting nat-ural branch of medicine.

2009 Hardcover ISBN 978-1-60327-286-5

Publications within Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs) 2010–2011

Enhancing the Efficiency of Induced Mutegenesis through an Integrated Bio-technology Pipeline (D2.40.12) DANSO, K.E., ELEGBA, W.K., ODURO, V.B, KPEN-TEY, P.B., Comparative study of 2,4-D and Picloram on friable embryogenic calli and somatic embryos develop-ment in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) Int. J. Integ. Biol. 10 2 (2010) 94–100. TILL, B.J., JANKOWICZ-CIESLAK, J. SAGI, L., HUYNH, O.A., UTSUSHI, H., SWEENEN, R., TERAUCHI, R, MBA, C., Discovery of nucleotide pol-ymorphisms in the Musa gene pool by Ecotilling, Theo-retical and Applied Genetics, 121 7 (2010) 1381–1389.

Molecular Tools for Quality Improvemen-tin Vegetatively Propagated Crops includ-ing Banana and Cassava (D2.30.27) SMITHA, P.D., NAIR, A.S., Somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration in diploid banana cultivars from Kera-la, Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources, 23 1 (2010) 69–72.

GAYATHRI, NAIR, A.S., Isolation purification and characterization of polygalactouranase enzyme from Mu-sa acuminate cv. Palayamcodan fruits, Indian Science Congress (2010). MOHANDAS, H., NAIR, A.S., HPLC analysis of beta carotene in banana cultivars from Kerala, Golden Jubilee National Symposium on Plant Diversity, Utilization & Management (2010). BAYOUMI, S.A.L., ROWAN, M.G., BEECHING, J.R., BLAGBROUGH, I.S., Phytochemistry 71 (2010) 598. HŘIBOVÁ, E., NEUMANN, P., MATSUMOTO, T., ROUX, N., MACAS, J., DOLEŽEL, J. Repetitive part of the banana (Musa acuminata) genome investigated by low-depth 454 sequencing, BMC Plant Biology 10 (2010) 204. HŘIBOVÁ, E., ČÍŽKOVÁ, J., CHRISTELOVÁ, P., TAUDIEN, S., DE LANGHE, E. DOLEŽEL, J., The ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence region in the Musaceae: struc-ture, diversity and use in molecular phylogeny, PLoS One 6 3 (2011) e17863. CHRISTELOVÁ, P., VALÁRIK, M., HŘIBOVÁ, E. DE LANGHE, E., DOLEŽEL, J., A multi gene sequence-

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based phylogeny of the Musaceae (banana) family, BMC Evolutionary Biology 11 103 (2011). JAMES, A., ORTIZ, R., MILLER, R., BAURENS, F., D’HONT, A., Map-based or positional cloning, Encyclo-pedia of Plant Genomics (2010) (Ed. Prof. Chittaranjan Kole). TOGAWA, R.C., MELLOW ROMERO SANTOS, C., MILLER, R.N.G., TEIXEIRA SOUZA JÚNIOR, M., MARTINS, N.F., DATAMusa – a database for orthology genes form Musa, Tree and Forestry Science and Bio-technology (2010). MILLER, R.N.G., PASSOS, M.A.N., EMEDIATO, F.L., DE CAMARGO TEIXEIRA, C., PAPAS JÚNIOR, G.J., Candidate resistance gene discovery: Resistance gene analog characterization and differential gene expression analysis in Musa-mycosphaerella host-pathogen interac-tions, Acta Hort. (ISHS) (2010). BAURENS, F.C., BOCS, S., ROUARD, M., MATSU-MOTO, T., MILLER, R.N.G., RODIER-GOUD, M., MBEGUIE-A-MBEGUIE, D., YAHIAOUI, N., Mecha-nisms of haplotype divergence at the RGA08 mucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat gene locus in wild banana (Musa balbisiana), BMC Plant Biology 10 149 (2010).

HIPPOLYTE, I., BAKRY, F., SEGUIN, M., GARDES, L., RIVALLAN, R., RISTERUCCI, A.-M., JENNY, C., PERRIER, X., CARREEL, F., ARGOUT, X., PIF-FANELLI, P., KHAN, I., MILLER, R.N.G., PAPPAS GEORGIOS, J., MBEGUIE-A-MBEGUIE, D., MATSUMOTO, T., DE BERNARDINIS, V., HUTTNER, E., KILIAN, A., BAURENS, F.C., D’HONT, A., COTE, F., COURTOIS, B., GLASZ-MANN, J.C., A saturated SSR/DArT linkage map of Mu-sa acuminata addressing genome rearrangement among bananas, BMC Plant Biology 10 65 (2010). MILLER, R.N.G., PASSOS, M.A.N., MENEZES, N.N.P, SOUZA, M.T., DO CARMO COSTA, M.M., RENNO AZEVEDO, V.C., AMORIM, E.P., PAPPAS, G.J., GIAMPI, A.Y., Characterization of novel microsat-ellite markers in Musa acuminata subsp. Burmanni-coides, var. Calcutta 4, BMC Research notes 3 148 (2010). TILL, B.J., JANKOWICZ-CEISLAK, J., SAGI, L., HUYNH, O.A., UTSUSHI, H., SWEENEN, R., TERAUCHI, R., MBA, C., Discovery of nucleotide pol-ymorphisms in the Musa gene pool by Ecotilling, Theo-retical and Applied Genetics 121 7 (2010) 1381–1389.

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List of Plant Breeding and Genetics Section’s Publications

Plant Mutation Reports Year Edition Contents (a sampling of the papers are listed below): Reference No. 2011 Vol. 2, No. 3 � In vitro mutagenesis in mangosteen

� Floral variation in cotton � Chemical mutagenesis in wheat � Mutation breeding in Brazil � Improved shelf life of garden pea � Improvement of lablab bean

ISSN 1011-260X

2010 Vol. 2, No. 2 � Mutation breeding in Bulgaria � Mutagenesis in clusterbean � Doubled haploid durum wheat � Improvement of indigenous rice � Mutant variety of groundnut � Gamma phytotron � Gamma greenhouse � Gamma field

ISSN 1011-260X

2008 Vol. 2, No. 1 � Induced genetic variability in kacholam � Mutagenesis of guar � Cocoyam radiation sensitivity � Virus resistant rice variety � Cold tolerant mutant rice � Proton radiation � Tomato adapted to low water supply � Increasing crossability of mungbean

ISSN 1011-260X

2007 Vol. 1, No. 3 � Mutation breeding and genetics in Korea � Genetic enhancement of groundnut � Virus resistant banana � Ion beams implantation on wheat � Trombay mutant groundnut varieties � Lodging tolerant rice variety

ISSN 1011-260X

2006 Vol. 1, No. 2 � 30 years rice mutation breeding and genetics � Mutant groundnut varieties in Bangladesh � Shortening durum wheat plants � Seedless mutant sweet orange � Colorful chrysanthemum mutations � Radiosensitivity of cassava in vitro culture

ISSN 1011-260X

2006 Vol. 1, No. 1 � Rice mutation breeding in China � Long grain aromatic rices and induced mutations � Significant contribution of mutation techniques to

rice breeding in Indonesia

ISSN 1011-260X

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Year Edition Contents (a sampling of the papers are listed below): Reference No. � Use of induced mutants in rice breeding in Japan � Katy deletion mutant populations � Rice mutation breeding in Vietnam

Mutation Breeding Newsletter and Reviews Year Edition Contents (a sampling of the papers are listed below): Reference No. 2005 No. 1 � High yielding mutants in cotton

� Drought resistant tomato � Groundnut resistant to foliar diseases � Lodging resistant glutinous rice � First ever oilseed mustard mutant

ISSN 1011-260X

Mutation Breeding Review (published until 2004) Year Edition Title Reference No. 2004 No. 14 Officially released mutant varieties in China ISSN 1011-2618 2001 No. 13 Grain legume cultivars derived from induced muta-

tions, and mutations altering fatty acid composition ISSN 1011-2618

2000 No. 12 Officially released mutant varieties – The FAO/IAEA database

ISSN 1011-2618

1999 No. 11 Oilseed cultivars developed from induced mutations and mutations altering fatty acid composition

ISSN 1011-2618

Mutation Breeding Newsletter (published until 2003) Year Edition Title Reference No. 2003 No. 46 Index Issue No. 21–44 ISSN 1011-260X 2001 No. 45 Issue No. 45 ISSN 1011-260X 1999 No. 44 Issue No. 44 ISSN 1011-260X

Books

Year Edition Title Book Cover Reference No.

2010 Mass Screening Techniques for Selecting Crops Resistant to Dis-ease

ISBN 978-92-0-105110-3

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Year Edition Title Book Cover Reference No.

2009 Induced Plant Mutations in the Genomics Era

ISBN 978-92-5-106324-9

2004 Banana Improvement: Cellular, Molecular Biology, and Induced Mutations

ISBN 1-57808-340-0

2003 Doubled Haploid Production in Crop Plants – A Manual

ISBN 1-4020-1544-5

2002 Training Course Series No. 19

Mutant Germplasm Characteriza-tion using Molecular Markers – A Manual

ISSN 1018-5518

2002 Mutations, In Vitro and Molecular Techniques for Environmentally Sustainable Crop Improvement

ISBN 1-4020-0602-0

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Technical Documents Year Type of Publication Title Reference No. 2009 IAEA-TECDOC-1615 Induced mutation in tropical fruit trees ISBN 978-92-0-1027-09-2 2006 IAEA-TECDOC-1493 Mutational analysis of root characters in food

plants ISBN 92-0-103106-8 ISSN 1011-4289

2004 IAEA-TECDOC-1384 Low cost options for tissue culture technolo-gy in developing countries

ISBN 92-0-115903-X ISSN 1011-4289

2004 IAEA-TECDOC-1426 Genetic improvement of under-utilized and neglected crops in low income food deficit countries through irradiation and related techniques

ISBN 92-0-113604-8 ISSN 1011-4289

2003 IAEA-TECDOC-1369 Improvement of new and traditional industri-al crops by induced mutations and related bi-otechnology

ISBN 92-0-101603-4 ISSN 1011-4289

2001 IAEA-TECDOC-1195 Sesame improvement by induced mutations ISSN 1011-4289 2001 IAEA-TECDOC-1216 Induced mutations in connection with bio-

technology for crop improvement in Latin America

ISSN 1011-4289

2001 IAEA-TECDOC-1227 In vitro techniques for selection of radiation induced mutations adapted to adverse envi-ronmental conditions

ISSN 1011-4289

2001 IAEA-TECDOC-1253 Radioactively labeled DNA probes for crop improvement

ISSN 1011-4289

1998 IAEA-TECDOC-1010 Application of DNA based marker mutations for improvement of cereals and other sexual-ly reproduced crop plants

ISSN 1011-4289

1998 IAEA-TECDOC-1047 Use of novel DNA fingerprinting techniques for the detection and characterization of ge-netic variation in vegetatively propagated crops

ISSN 1011-4289

1997 IAEA-TECDOC-951 Improvement of basic food crops in Africa through plant breeding, including the use of induced mutations

ISSN 1011-4289

1996 IAEA-TECDOC-859 Use of mutation techniques for improvement of cereals in Latin America

ISSN 1011-4289

1995 IAEA-TECDOC-800 In vitro mutation breeding of banana and plantains

ISSN 1011-4289

1995 IAEA-TECDOC-809 Improvement of root and tuber crops in tropi-cal countries of Asia by induced mutations

ISSN 1011-4289

1994 IAEA-TECDOC-781 Mutation breeding of oil seed crops ISSN 1011-4289

For details on IAEA Publications, visit: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/publications.asp

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New FAO/IAEA Database of Mutant Varieties and Genetic Stocks

Welcome to our new FAO/IAEA Database of Mutant Varieties and Genetic Stocks! At the moment, we just completed construction of the part for Mutant Variety Database, which is still in the process of information up-dating. We will add the other part for Mutant Genetic Stocks in due time. The new database has improved over

the FAO/IAEA Mutant Variety Database in many ways. We are working to make the new database as the global information source of mutant varieties and mutant genetic stocks, as well as activities and events related to plant mutation breeding and research.

The key feature of the database is that you can register your mutant varieties from your desktop. For this pur-pose, you need first register an account; then you will be authorized to submit or edit a mutant variety.

We would greatly appreciate your support by registering your mutant variety in our database. Once the variety is registered, it will have its own ‘homepage’ (see below). Therefore, you can use it as an important platform to

showcase your new varieties (The introduction of this variety may be shown in local language).

Please visit the website http://mvgs.iaea.org and send us your valuable suggestions and comments regarding the structure and content of this database. Please also send us other information, related to plant mutation breeding and mutant varieties, genetic stocks; we may post them on the website.

YOU MAY STILL SEND US INFORMATION ON YOUR MUTANT VARIETY AND WE WILL UPLOAD THEM INTO THE SYSTEM, IF IT IS DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO DO SO.

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Scope Plant Mutation Reports (PMR) publishes (mini) reviews, short communications and complete research papers in all areas of plant mutation research, focusing on mutagene-sis, phenotyping and genotyping characterization of mu-tant populations and the application of mutation breeding and biotechnology in crop improvement. It also publishes description papers on mutant germplasm and mutant va-rieties. Papers on the socioeconomic impact analysis of induced mutations and mutant varieties are also accepted.

Style The manuscript should be accurately and concisely writ-ten in English with the following sections:

Title page � Title: The title should be brief and informative, 10 to

12 words (excluding ‘and,’ ‘of,’ and similar con-junctions and prepositions). As much as possible use common names for crops and avoid abbreviations.

� Authors: The names of all authors should follow the title line initials of given names followed by full family name. Place an asterisk (*) after the name of the corresponding author (i.e., the person from whom reprints are to be requested). If authors are from different institutions, indicate institutional af-filiation with numbers in superscript font (1, 2 …).

� Affiliation(s)/Address(es): � Email address: Provide the corresponding author’s

email address.

Abstract and keywords Provide a brief and informative paragraph summarizing the content of article on the second manuscript page. The abstract should not exceed 150 words. Do not cite refer-ences. Each paper should have 3–5 keywords.

Main text � The main text should follow the title page and ab-

stract. � Review articles may be organized according to their

specific requirements. � Research articles should be arranged in the follow-

ing order: Introduction (which includes the literature review), Materials and Methods, Results, Discus-sion, Conclusions (optional), Acknowledgements (optional), and References, followed by any figure

captions, and then tables. Use the ‘Title Case’ for each section.

� Results and discussion may be combined and con-clusions can be given at the close of the discussion section.

� Start each section (including figure captions and ta-bles) on a new page and number all pages.

� New mutant germplasm should include a short de-scription of initial material used and the mutagen and doses applied; selection process; mutated char-acteristics and its genetic and agronomic analysis. Description of the mutant variety should, in addition, include its performance in yield trials for varietal re-lease and the releasing committee, when applicable, and proof of entry in the MVGS (http://mvgs.iaea.org/).

Acknowledgements � Acknowledgements of grants, support etc, should

follow the text and precede the references.

References IAEA publishing style requires that references be keyed to the text by numbers in square brackets corresponding to the order in which they are first mentioned. If a refer-ence is first cited in a table, figure or footnote, it should be numbered according to the place in the text where the table, figure or footnote is first mentioned (i.e. not where the table, figure or footnote happens to be located on the page). Normally references should be numbered serially throughout the document, including any appendices, and collected in a single list (headed REFERENCES) after the last appendix and before any annex. Each annex in which references are cited must have its own reference list. A reference list should include only those references cit-ed in the text. When cited in the text, references should be styled as numbers in square brackets corresponding to the order in which they are first mentioned (e.g. ‘…in improving productivity [17, 18].’). If the reference num-ber is an integral part of a sentence, the abbreviation ‘Ref.’ should be included (e.g. ‘This is discussed in Refs [2, 3].’). When two authors are mentioned in the text their names are written as, for example, ‘Smith and Jones’, although in the list of references ‘and’ is omitted. If there are more than two authors, only the first name should be men-

Author’s Guidelines for Manuscript Submission

Plant Breeding & Genetics Newsletter, No. 27, July 2011

Plant Breeding & Genetics Newsletter, No. 27, July 2011

Impressum Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter No. 27, July 2011

The PBG Newsletter is prepared twice a year by the Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of

Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, Seibersdorf.

International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria

Printed by the IAEA in Austria, July 2011 -11 21051

tioned in the text, followed by ‘et al.’ (not in italics). Au-thors’ names in the text are not fully capitalized. A refer-ence that has more than five authors in the list of refer-ences should be set with only the first author’s name, fol-lowed by et al. The examples given below illustrate the IAEA’s style for presenting references: [13] STEPHENSON, R., Introduction to Nuclear Engi-

neering, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York (1958) 491 pp.

[14] INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIO-LOGICAL PROTECTION, Evaluation of Radia-tion Doses to Body Tissues from Internal Contam-ination due to Occupational Exposure, Publication 10, Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York (1968).

[15] GUTHRIE, F.E., PERRY, J.J. (Eds), Introduction to Environmental Toxicology, Blackwell, Oxford (1980).

[16] Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research 1994 (Proc. 15th Int. Conf. Seville, 1994), 4 vols, IAEA, Vienna (1995).

[44] COCHRANE, M.P., DUFFS, C.M., Endosperm cell number in barley, Nature 289 (1981) 399.

[45] BLOUNT, E.I., Symmetry properties of triplet su-perconductors, Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter 32 (1985) 2935.

[46] TEPPER, L., Suboptimal control study of a nuclear power plant, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. NS-22 (1975) 812.

[47] PEACOCK, K.L., Design of discrete bandpass fil-ters for petroleum exploration, Oil Gas J. 83 42 (1985) 121.

[48] ROYLE, A.F., Why geostatistics? Eng. Min. J. 180 5 (1979) 92.

[49] CHEN, Iwei, Irradiation-induced segregation in multi-component alloys, J. Nucl. Mater. 116 (1983) 249.

Figures � Figures, e.g. photographs, graphs and diagrams

should be referred to as ‘Fig.’ numbered consecu-tively (1, 2, etc.).

� Submit figures in high resolution, individual files (one figure per file) and identify each file according-ly.

� A figure caption should be brief, but informative. It should be set in italics and should be placed under the figure.

� Identify curves, symbols, or structures with a legend within the figure itself, not in the caption. Define abbreviations in the caption and define symbols used in the caption or in the legend.

� Indicate the scale for micrographs, either in the illus-tration or the caption.

Tables � All tables should be prepared with the ‘Tables’ fea-

ture in your word processor, (do not use tabs, spaces, or graphics boxes) and must be numbered consecu-tively, using Arabic numerals, with brief headers ex-plaining the content of the table. Use footnotes for detailed explanation of the tables. Each datum should be in an individual cell. Define all variables and spell out all abbreviations. Tables should be placed at the end of the main text document, with each table on a separate page.

� The *, **, and *** are always used in this order to show statistical significance at the 0.05, 0.01, and 0.001 probability levels, respectively, and cannot be used for other notes. Significance at other levels is designated by a supplemental note. Lack of signifi-cance is usually indicated by NS.

� Footnotes should be placed immediately below the table. The footnotes should be identified by super-script letter a, b, c, d............

� Do not use boxes; use horizontal lines only. Figures and tables should be placed on separate pages.

Abbreviations All abbreviations should be fully defined when first men-tioned in the abstract and also in the main text, and then the abbreviation may subsequently be used.

Nomenclature and identification of materials Give the complete binomial and authorities at first men-tion (in the abstract or text) of plants, pathogens, and in-sects.

Units and symbols The standard SI units (Système International de Unités) and symbols should be used throughout (www.scenta.co.uk/tcaep/science/siunit/index.htm).